The objective of this study was to link water hardness to the spodumene flotation performance during the fatty acid flotation process, thus allowing a smart implementation of spodumene flotation water-use strategies in commercial plants. Batch flotation tests were conducted to study flotation performance (recovery and grade) of spodumene in fatty acid flotation system using different usage of flotation reagents and three types of water. Central composite design was used to design the experiments and response surface method was used for optimization. The results indicate that the flotation performance of spodumene is directly influenced by the use of different water samples in the fatty acid flotation system. Under appropriate flotation conditions, effective flotation separation can be achieved for low-hardness water (LHW) and medium-hardness water (MHW). The key difference between the two systems is related to the flotation reagent additions required. For the LHW sample, Na₂CO₃ exerted a depression effect, but NaOH exerted an activation effect, and medium dosages of CaCl₂ and sodium oleate (NaOL) were desired. For the MHW sample, high dosages of Na₂CO₃ and NaOL were desired for offsetting the side reaction of calcium cations in the water sample. However, for high-hardness water, the negative effect associated with water hardness could not be addressed through controlled addition of the flotation reagent, and the softening of the water prior to flotation was unavoidable.

本研究的目的是将脂肪酸浮选过程中的水硬度与锂辉石浮选性能联系起来，从而在商业工厂中巧妙地实施锂辉石浮选用水策略。进行批量浮选试验，研究锂辉石在脂肪酸浮选系统中，采用不同用量的浮选药剂和三种水的浮选性能（回收率和品位）。实验设计采用中心复合设计，优化采用响应面法。结果表明，锂辉石的浮选性能直接受脂肪酸浮选系统中使用不同水样的影响。在合适的浮选条件下，对低硬度水（LHW）和中硬度水（MHW）可以实现有效的浮选分离。两个系统之间的主要区别与所需的浮选试剂添加量有关。对于 LHW 样品，Na₂ CO ₃有抑制作用，NaOH有活化作用，需要中等剂量的CaCl ₂和油酸钠(NaOL)。对于 MHW 样品，需要高剂量的 Na ₂ CO ₃和 NaOL 来抵消水样中钙阳离子的副反应。然而，对于高硬度水，控制添加浮选剂无法解决与水硬度相关的负面影响，浮选前水的软化是不可避免的。