Abstract

In the mining industry there is a need to advance in sustainable development. It is necessary to propose new environmentally friendly reagents that achieve better performance and contribute to the circular economy at the same time. In this research, the technical feasibility of the use of mixtures of recycled vegetable oils esters (ERVOs) and biosolids (BSs) as collectors of copper sulphide minerals in the flotation process is studied.The study considered flotation tests at laboratory scale with synthetic ores (chalcopyrite, pyrite, and quartz) in order to evaluate the flotation kinetics of ERVOs and BSs by separated, analysis of the metallurgical indexes to use different ERVOs/BSs mixtures and compare those results with the obtained with the conventional collector potassium amyl xanthate (PAX). Results obtained in this study showed that, the kinetic flotation of RVOs and BSs was faster than the obtained with PAX collector. Also, although a lower recovery of copper with the mixtures of ERVOs/BS than PAX collector was obtained, the ERVOs/BS mixtures reached a higher enrichment ratio and selectivity index with respect to pyrite. According to these results, it is possible to suggest that the use of ERVOs/BSs has the potential to be used in the cleaner stages. This could represent a combined opportunity to reduce costs in the flotation process and minimize the environmental impact generated in the mining and sanitary industries.