Temperature and climate-induced fluctuations in froth flotation: an overview of different ore types

This overview identified temperature and precipitation as the main seasonality triggers for changes in flotation performance. Other triggers found in the literature included total dissolved organics, amount of ultra-violent irradiation, and bacteria activity. The temperature was more frequently reported as an impactful seasonal controller, fluctuations of which cause grade, recovery, and selectivity problems in flotation: cases of laboratory and plant practices were highlighted, with some examples of ‘chemical’ solutions to low efficiency in cold flotation pulps. This overview describes seasonal cyclicity mechanisms and temperature-dependency of operations by referring to chemical and physical aspects of flotation: reactions and reagents, ore and mineral surfaces, water, bubbles, and equipment efficiency.