Research Information System
MINERALS, vol.12, no.6, pp.1-17, 2022 (SCI-Expanded)
Clay minerals need to be dispersed with blungers before their
utilization in the related industries due to their plastic properties,
and size reduction is carried out in a wet medium. Clay minerals also
contain impurities such as nonplastic materials in their structure.
Mechanical dispersion parameters are important in the separation of clay
group minerals (halloysite and kaolinite) from their typical non-clayey
gangue minerals (quartz and goethite). In this study, the removal of
impurities from halloysite ore obtained from Kızıldam, Turkey, was
examined in terms of mechanical dispersion parameters, namely, feed
size, blunging time and speed, pulp concentration, pulp temperature, and
the aging process. The effect of these parameters on halloysite
dispersion was determined by particle size, chemical, and mineralogical
analysis, and optical and scanning electron microscope images. The
results obtained from the studies of the mechanical dispersing and
particle size distribution of the products indicated that the optimum
dispersion parameters were determined as −10 mm feed size, 8 h, and 1000
rpm blunging time, and speed, 35% pulp concentration at 25 °C pulp
temperature. Under these optimum conditions, a 72.3% amount of −38 μm
clay product containing 35.6% of halloysite, 46.5% of kaolinite, 12.0%
quartz, 1.9% goethite, 0.9% gibbsite, and 3.2% other minerals were
obtained from the halloysite ore, having 30.5% of halloysite, 43.4% of
kaolinite, 19.1% quartz, 2.9% goethite, 1.4% gibbsite, and 2.7% other
minerals. In this study, it was understood that feed size, pulp
concentration, blunging time, and speed were important parameters, while
pulp temperature and the aging process had no significant effect on the
mechanical dispersion of Kızıldam halloysite. In addition, impurities
such as quartz and iron-bearing minerals were separated from the ore by
blunging and sieving.