A Brief Review of Micro-Particle Slurry Rheological Behavior in Grinding and Flotation for Enhancing Fine Mineral Processing Efficiency

Recent years have witnessed growing research interest in applying rheology in grinding and flotation treatment of finely disseminated ores. Slurry rheology has long been identified as the comprehensive effect of inter-particle interactions, including their aggregation and dispersion states in slurry, which are more impactive under the fine-particle effect. In this regard, rheology has the potential to play a significant role in interpreting the flowing and deforming phenomena of inter-particle aggregates, particle-bubble aggregates, and flotation froth. Though much attention has been paid to the rheological effect in industrial suspension, this has not been the case for mineral grinding and flotation for fine particles. The influential mechanism of rheology on the sub-processes of mineral processing has not been systemically determined nor revealed thoroughly, thus the underpinning mechanism for enhancing the processing efficiency has been difficult to discover. This paper reviews the current application and importance of rheology in fine mineral processing, and the potential research direction in the field is proposed.