TY - GEN
T1 - Pre-treatment of a Hydrocarbon Contaminated Platinum group Minerals Mine Sludge using a Non-ionic Surfactant
AU - Chintsiza, Sonwabile
AU - Nheta, Willie
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024, Avestia Publishing. All rights reserved.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - In South Africa, the Merensky, Upper Group 2 (UG-2), and Platreef are the three primary platinum group mineral (PGM) reefs found in the Bushveld Igneous Complex (BIC). PGM output is now mostly sourced from Platreef and UG-2 reefs. Most of the PGM mines have become highly mechanised, leading to the production of mine sludge contaminated with hydrocarbons. This study investigated the removal of the hydrocarbons using a non-ionic surfactant in preparation for the flotation process. The contaminated mine sludge was characterised for hydrocarbon content, mineralogical and elemental composition. Response Surface Methodology-Box-Behnken (RSM-BBD) design of experiments was used to design the washing experimental runs. The results revealed that the sample contained 9.32g/t of total four elements (Pt, Pd, Rh and Au) with most of the PGMs found in the sulphide form. Chromite and quartz are the common gangue minerals that were found in the sample. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy showed that there were hydrocarbons present in the sample. The washing experiments showed that Triston-100 (TX-100) can be used to remove hydrocarbons from the contaminated PGMs mine sludge. The optimum washing conditions with a hydrocarbon removal efficiency of 91.86% were found to be 12.25 g/kg surfactant concentration, 150 minutes of washing time and a pH of 12.
AB - In South Africa, the Merensky, Upper Group 2 (UG-2), and Platreef are the three primary platinum group mineral (PGM) reefs found in the Bushveld Igneous Complex (BIC). PGM output is now mostly sourced from Platreef and UG-2 reefs. Most of the PGM mines have become highly mechanised, leading to the production of mine sludge contaminated with hydrocarbons. This study investigated the removal of the hydrocarbons using a non-ionic surfactant in preparation for the flotation process. The contaminated mine sludge was characterised for hydrocarbon content, mineralogical and elemental composition. Response Surface Methodology-Box-Behnken (RSM-BBD) design of experiments was used to design the washing experimental runs. The results revealed that the sample contained 9.32g/t of total four elements (Pt, Pd, Rh and Au) with most of the PGMs found in the sulphide form. Chromite and quartz are the common gangue minerals that were found in the sample. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy showed that there were hydrocarbons present in the sample. The washing experiments showed that Triston-100 (TX-100) can be used to remove hydrocarbons from the contaminated PGMs mine sludge. The optimum washing conditions with a hydrocarbon removal efficiency of 91.86% were found to be 12.25 g/kg surfactant concentration, 150 minutes of washing time and a pH of 12.
KW - Bushveld Igneous Complex
KW - Flotation
KW - Mine sludge
KW - Non-ionic surfactant
KW - Upper Group 2
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85205099535&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.11159/mmme24.116
DO - 10.11159/mmme24.116
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85205099535
SN - 9781990800443
T3 - Proceedings of the World Congress on Mechanical, Chemical, and Material Engineering
BT - Proceedings of the 10th World Congress on Mechanical, Chemical, and Material Engineering, MCM 2024
A2 - Qiu, Huihe
PB - Avestia Publishing
T2 - 10th World Congress on Mechanical, Chemical, and Material Engineering, MCM 2024
Y2 - 22 August 2024 through 24 August 2024
ER -