Sustainable REcovVEry of phosphorous from mine tAiLings

Purpose and goal:

The overall aim of REVEAL was to develop and test the feasibility of novel environment-friendly flotation collectors, i.e. lignin nanoparticles (OLN) produced from forest residues, in order to optimize resource use and minimize the environmental impact of the Swedish mining industry. In REVEAL we have been able to obtain results that indicate that OLN, for some tailing material, can be used as a novel low-carbon footprint, biodegradable and non-toxic flotation collector for apatite recovery.

Expected results and effects:

Bench scale flotation tests showed that for some tailing material it was possible to obtain similar grade and recovery results for the apatite concentrate when commercially available collector was replaced with OLN. The data collected was used to identify technical challenges that needs to be addressed for future pilot and full-scale studies. Besides optimal process conditions, this includes production capacity and cost assessment of OLN and also storage, stability and degradation of OLN.

Approach and implementation:

The project was led by Ulrika Rova from Luleå University of Technology and conducted in close collaboration with LKAB. LTU produced the lignin-based flotation collectors and performed lab-scale flotation of apatite from the mine tailings provided by LKAB. LKAB assisted with expertise for the laboratory flotation tests, including analysis of the obtained results.