Kinetics of hydrophobic agglomeration of molybdenite fines in aqueous suspensions

The kinetics of hydrophobic agglomeration of molybdenite fines in aqueous suspensions has been studied in this work. This study was performed on minus 5 μm molybdenite particles through turbid-ity measurements and imaging. The results have showed that stirring strength and kerosene addition greatly affected the agglomeration rate of molybdenite fines in aqueous suspensions. The higher was the stirring strength, the larger the agglomeration rate was. Kerosene addition enhanced not only the agglom-eration rate, but also the agglomerates structure. It was recommended to use radial impeller for the for-mation of hydrophobic agglomeration, because it produced a stronger shear field in impeller zone.