Cost-efficient clean flotation of amorphous graphite using water-in-oil kerosene emulsion as a novel collector

Kerosene is one of the most used collectors in graphite flotation, while its consumption undergoes an enormous increase, especially in amorphous graphite flotation, imposing heavy economic burdens and raising environmental concerns. In this work, a novel water-in-oil type kerosene emulsion was prepared, and its flotation performance as a collector on an amorphous graphite ore was examined and compared to pristine kerosene. An optimized emulsification process was developed based on the roughing flotation test. Particle size distribution analysis, optical microscope, and Cryo-SEM studies indicated homogenous and fine emulsified kerosene droplets in aqueous. More importantly, the open circuit flotation test proved emulsified kerosene as a superior collector to pristine kerosene in terms of enhancing the clean flotation efficiency of amorphous graphite.