Characterisation and separation of pyritic sulfur from limestone using Falcon concentrator

This study was performed to investigate feasibility of employing enhanced gravity separator for beneficiation of pyritic limestone. Limestone sample primarily constituted of calcite, dolomite, quartz and pyrite which was major gangue mineral phase in samples. Pyrite is highly dispersed in limestone. Mineralogical characteristics and liberation study using image analysis was carried out to determine optimum liberation size of pyrite. Falcon concentrator removed pyrite from limestone. In the present study, Box-Behnken design of experiments with response surface methodology was applied to understand the performance behavior of fine minerals. This was done to understand effect of different operating parameters of feed and their interaction effects on performance of Falcon separator. It was found that gravity force and water pressure have significant effect on both pyrite removal and calcite recovery of limestone concentrate. Optimization of operating parameters could yield maximum pyrite rejection in form of SO3 and maximum recovery of calcite.