DEVELOPING OILSEED CAKE-DERIVED BIO-COLLECTOR AS SUSTAINABLE ALTERNATIVE IN GRAPHITE FLOTATION: A GREEN CHEMISTRY APPROACH

Abstract

Froth flotation, a widely employed technique in mineral beneficiation, heavily relies on the judicious selection of chemical reagents. Green chemistry strategies focus on replacing traditional, petroleum-based reagents, such as diesel oil (DO), with biodegradable and sustainable alternatives, including plant-based oils (e.g., fatty acids from vegetable oils) and bio-surfactants. This study introduces a novel approach that replaces diesel with a safer, biodegradable bio-collector (SSO) derived from oilseed cake, as a sustainable alternative offering similar performance in flotation of graphite ore. A Box-Behnken Design (BBD) under Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was employed to optimize the soxhlet extraction process of collector SSO, considering key parameters such as temperature, particle size, and solvent-to-feed ratio. FTIR analysis confirmed the presence of aliphatic hydrocarbons, carbonyl groups, ethers/alcohols in the extracted SSO. GCMS analysis revealed the major constituents of SSO to be oleic acid, linoleic acid, palmitic acid, and stearic acid. Comparative flotation studies using SSO and DO as collectors showed that bio-collector SSO performed equivalent to DO in terms of ash reduction in the graphite concentrate. The ash content in the graphite concentrate was reduced from 85% in the feed ore to 25.13% with 94.86% ash rejection in tailings, achieving comparable results to DO with a significantly lower reagent dosage (0.155 kg/t SSO vs. 1.7 kg/t DO). This study provides evidence for the application of SSO as a sustainable and effective bio-collector for graphite flotation, offering a promising alternative for reducing environmental impact and promoting sustainable mineral processing practices.