Scientists from Perm National Research Polytechnic University (PNRPU), together with colleagues from Jiangxi University of Science and Technology in China, have investigated a promising new route for the effective extraction of potassium. PNIPU reported this to socialbites.ca.
Potassium remains one of the most important components of fertilizers. The mineral is obtained from sylvinite ores using flotation – separation of the composition into potassium and sodium chlorides. Special reagents are used for this purpose, but some physicochemical properties of these substances reduce the effectiveness of the process and make it more expensive.
Experts from PNRPU and Jiangxi University placed the reagents in an ultrasonic setup and exposed them to acoustic waves of various powers (from 168 to 420 W) for 150 seconds. Then scientists checked how the processing of substances affects the buoyancy quality of potash ores.
The results showed that ultrasound can change the physicochemical properties of reagents (e.g., reducing the size of large molecular particles as well as changing the charge potential of a solution, which determines the behavior of particles in a solution). a positive impact on its effectiveness. The best result was achieved when the components were processed with ultrasound with a power of 252 W.
In the future, the results of the study will be able to be tested in practice in pilot industrial conditions.
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