Due to environmental reasons and water shortage, concentrators have to increase water recirculation in the plant. The water originates from different sources, and depending on their origins, the water chemistry varies from stream to stream. Water chemistry has many significant impacts on flotation, beneficial or non-beneficial. Flotation tests have been conducted using process water (originates from tailings treatment facilities and is clean water that can be released to the environment) and thickener tank overflow water obtained from a North American concentrator. The concentrator would like to increase the recirculation of the thickener tank overflow water and reduce process water consumption. In this work, the flotation results between process water (PW) and thickener tank overflow water recirculated at various degrees were compared. Reverse osmosis (RO) at different degrees of recirculation (0%, 20%, 40%, 60% and 80% RO) was used to simulate water thickener tank overflow water recirculation. The results showed that higher pyrrhotite recoveries were obtained when thickener tank overflow water recirculated (0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, and 80% RO) was used compared to that obtained with process water. However, the pyrrhotite recovery did not increase between 0% and 20%, 40%, 60% and 80% RO. Relative to the process water, the higher pyrrhotite recovery using thickener tank overflow water at various degrees of recirculation did not appear to have been caused by a higher relative proportion of activating species on grain surfaces. Most likely, the higher pyrrhotite recovery in the thickener tank overflow water (0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, and 80% RO) relative to that of process water was due to higher bubble surface area flux (smaller air bubbles) caused by the higher total dissolved solids (TDS) relative to that of process water. Non-sulphide gangue (Ga) recovery was similar for all tests and was mainly due to water entrainment. The nickel and copper recoveries increased at 60% and 80% RO relative to that of process water, probably due to the higher bubble surface area flux generated by the higher total dissolved solids (TDS) in the recycled thickener tank overflow water. Pentlandite (nickel-bearing mineral) grains from the 80% RO and process water samples showed similar proportions of gangue species (e.g. calcium and magnesium) on their surfaces. However, nickel and iron oxide species were slightly higher on pentlandite from the 80% RO sample relative to the process water. The marginally higher amount of hydrophilic oxidative species on pentlandite from the 80% RO could perhaps account in part for the difference in flotation kinetics observed between the samples.

由于环境原因和缺水，浓缩器必须增加工厂中的水再循环。水来自不同的来源，根据它们的来源，水的化学性质因溪流而异。水化学对浮选有许多重要影响，无论是有益的还是无益的。使用工艺用水（源自尾矿处理设施，是可以排放到环境中的清洁水）和从北美选矿厂获得的浓缩罐溢流水进行了浮选试验。浓缩厂希望增加浓缩罐溢流水的再循环，减少工艺用水量。在这项工作中，比较了工艺用水（PW）和不同程度再循环的浓缩罐溢流水之间的浮选结果。使用不同再循环程度（0%、20%、40%、60% 和 80% RO）的反渗透 (RO) 来模拟水浓缩罐溢流水再循环。结果表明，与使用工艺水获得的回收率相比，使用浓缩罐溢流水再循环（0%、20%、40%、60% 和 80% RO）时获得了更高的磁黄铁矿回收率。然而，磁黄铁矿的回收率在 0% 和 20%、40%、60% 和 80% RO 之间没有增加。相对于工艺用水，在不同程度的再循环下使用增稠剂罐溢流水获得较高的磁黄铁矿回收率似乎不是由谷物表面上较高比例的活化物质引起的。最有可能的是，增稠罐溢流水中的磁黄铁矿回收率较高（0%、20%、40%、60%、RO 和 80% RO）是由于较高的气泡表面积通量（较小的气泡）导致的总溶解固体 (TDS) 相对于工艺水的较高。所有测试的非硫化物脉石 (Ga) 回收率相似，主要是由于夹带水。镍和铜的回收率相对于工艺水的 RO 分别增加了 60% 和 80%，这可能是由于循环浓缩罐溢流水中较高的总溶解固体 (TDS) 产生了较高的气泡表面积通量。来自 80% RO 和工艺水样品的五角闪石（含镍矿物）颗粒在其表面上显示出相似比例的脉石种类（例如钙和镁）。然而，相对于工艺用水，来自 80% RO 样品的镍和氧化铁种类在 pentlandite 上略高。