Investigation of the Liquid Glass Effect on the Physico-Chemical and Physical Properties of Minerals

Liquid glass is a widely used reagent in mineral raw processing and it is the subject of quite a number of studies. The paper presents the results reflecting its novelty and proves that the mechanism of liquid glass effect and actively depressing or activatingforms are defined by the nature of the mineral and the process conditions. Thus, the authors proved that during floatation of the pulp with pH of more than 11, the depressive impact of liquid glass on fluorite is decreased due to reducing the adsorption of SiO32- ions on the negatively charged surface of the mineral. It is proved that the liquid glass consumptionintensifies the effect of disjoining pressure of fluid films resulting in the increase of the contentof generated class -0.071 mm in the finely ground iron-vanadium middlings. Liquid glass reduces the coercive force intensityandsubstantiallyweakensthe magnetic properties of minerals thusimprovingiron-vanadiumconcentrate qualityduring further recleaning.