Aiming at the evaluation of the possibility to change the point of addition of hydrated lime, from the slurry stocking tanks of the pipeline to the feed of the concentrate thickeners, a sample of the feed material of Samarco's concentrator was collected. Laboratory experiments, involving grinding, dispersion, desliming and flotation, were carried out by varying the addition of hydrated lime as a function of the slurry's pH, to check out the interference generated by the Ca2+ cations present in the recovered water over the desliming and flotation processes. The pH targeted level was chosen to better comply with the slurry rheology control during the pumping process (pH=11,4). The results appointed the change as possible, given the performance of the desliming process receives a continuous control. If the increase in the level of the hydrated lime added is enough to increase the pulp pH level to values above 10,5, the Ca2+ cations start to act as coagulants, therefore promoting a negative effect over its own performance, affecting the flotation process and making it difficult to obtain the specified SiO2 levels in the concentrate.
hydrated lime; calcium cations; quartz flotation
