Developments in Mineral Processing, vol.13, 2000 (Scopus)
Fertilizers seem to be one of the most important inputs in agricultural production for obtaining more crops from the fields. Phosphate is the main source of fertilizers. Phosphate which is used in the fertilizer industry must contain at least 30% P2O5. The sample used in this study was supplied by the Directorate of Mazi{dotless}dag Phosphate minework. Petrographic studies showed that dahllite and collophanite were the major phosphate minerals, and the main gangue mineral was calcium carbonate. The sample's average grade was 20.95% P2O5. The aim of this study was to utilize column flotation to recover phosphate from Mazi{dotless}daǧ phosphate plant tailings, and compare the results of column flotation with the results of conventional flotation techniques. Although a 31.50% P2O5 concentration with 78.80% recovery was obtained in column flotation, a 29.58% P2O5 concentration was obtained with 76.69% recovery in cell flotation. A 31.50% P2O5 result is acceptable for phosphoric acid production. © 2000 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.