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An Automated On-Stream XRD Analyser for Process Control in the Phosphate Industry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 March 2019

Johann P. Engelbrecht ,
S. W. de Bruyn  and
Johan P.R. de Villiers
Johann P. Engelbrecht
Affiliation:
Mineralogy and Process Chemistry Division Mintek, Private Bag X3015, 2125 Randburg South Africa
S. W. de Bruyn
Affiliation:
Mineralogy and Process Chemistry Division Mintek, Private Bag X3015, 2125 Randburg South Africa
Johan P.R. de Villiers
Affiliation:
Mineralogy and Process Chemistry Division Mintek, Private Bag X3015, 2125 Randburg South Africa
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Abstract

A dedicated on-stream X-ray diffraction (XRD) system for the analysis of rock phosphate-bearing slurries was configured to the requirements of industry for process control. The slurry-handling system includes a multiplexer, header tank, de-aerator, sample splitters and two windowless sample presenters. The x-ray system is comprises a line-focus molybdenum anode X-ray tube, two pyrolytic graphite primary-beam monochromators, two vertical fixed-geometry goniometers, and a simultaneous four scintillation-detector system. The X-ray beam is transmitted through the slurry curtains so that the forward diffracted X-ray intensities of apatite (francolite) and quartz are measured simultaneously. Data obtained by the on-stream XRD analyses of apatite and quartz in rock phosphate from the Florida area in the USA are presented. Lower limits of detection in the order of 0.1 per cent can be achieved for both the apatite and quartz in slurries containing 30 per cent solids. The solids content is a variable that must be known if feeds, tailings, and concentrates are to be measured using a universal algorithm. It can be calculated from the total mineral content of the slurry or from density measurements.

Type
VI. Whole Pattern Fitting, Phase Analysis by Diffraction Methods
Information
Advances in X-Ray Analysis , Volume 36: Forty-First Annual Conference on Applications of X-ray Analysis, August 3-7, 1992 , 1992 , pp. 333 - 342
Copyright
Copyright © International Centre for Diffraction Data 1992

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References

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