Quicklime20 Jul 2024 11:59
Pinched from an article on Linkedin.
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Quicklime as a flux removes impurities such as phosphorus, silica and sulphur. In the beneficiation of non-ferrous metals, lime is used to control pH in the flotation process, to neutralise iron sulphides and to extract and recover metals through precipitation or leaching processes.
Both quicklime and hydrated lime are widely used in the flotation or recovery of many non-ferrous ores, in particular copper ore flotation in which lime acts as depressant and maintains proper alkalinity in the flotation circuit. Lime is also used in the flotation of zinc, nickel and lead bearing ores. In the smelting and refining of copper, zinc, lead and other non-ferrous ores, noxious gas fumes of SO2 can be neutralized by passing these gases through “milk-of-lime” (dilute hydrated lime in an aqueous suspension) in a scrubber to avert the formation of sulphuric acid in the atmosphere and corrosion of plant equipment.
Quicklime is used to neutralize the acid effluents generated by the acid plants associated with copper smelters. Lime products are also used to neutralise the dumps in an effort to remediate Acid Mine Drainage (AMD).
Demand
In the copper mining sector, approximately 80% of the produced quicklime was used in flotation processes. Depending on the ore to be treated, the quicklime unit consumption value range from 1.5 to 1.7 kg/ton of processed copper ore.
The major copper producing countries, such Zambia and Chile have domestic supply of lime and can produce limited amounts of quicklime. The domestic production however do not meet the annual demand and these countries are dependent on import, in the case of Zambia quicklime in also imported from South Africa and Chile imports from Argentina.
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