How is Molybdenum Extracted

Molybdenum ore beneficiation method

The main ore dressing method of molybdenum ore is flotation.

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The molybdenum mineral recovered by flotation is molybdenite. The flotation agent uses non-polar oils as collectors, and a foaming agent is added. In order to ensure the quality of molybdenum concentrates, we need to further separate copper, lead, iron, and other metal minerals and calcium oxide and carbon minerals from molybdenum concentrate, can use sodium sulfide, cyanide to inhibit iron copper and impurities.

Smelting process of molybdenum concentrates

Molybdenum Concentrate Smelting mainly adopts the following methods:

Oxidation roasting: molybdenite is roasted by molybdenum calcine, followed by sublimation method or wet method to generate ammonium molybdate molybdenum trioxide, put ammonia into the solution, and separate from insoluble. Ammonium molybdate crystals are obtained by concentrating and crystallizing, or acid precipitation is used to form molybdate precipitation, thus separating from the soluble impurities. After calcination, they generated pure molybdenum trioxide, and then use the hydrogen reduction to produce metal molybdenum. According to the roasting equipment or the different adding components, the method can be divided into rotary kiln roasting, baking furnace process, fluidized bed roasting, and flash furnace roasting process. The method will produce a large amount of smoke, pollute the environment, the recovery rate of molybdenum is low, and the rare elements, rhenium almost all run away with the flue gas, it is not suitable for processing low-grade ore and complex ore.

Nitric acid leaching: the oxidation of MOS2 to produce soluble molybdate in an autoclave, which mainly uses inexpensive oxidants - air or pure oxygen. This method requires high temperature and high pressure, high requirement of reaction equipment, reaction conditions, and reliable production, technical difficulty, technical conditions of the leaching process is difficult to control, some security risks also exist in the production process, at present, has suspended the use of this method.

Sodium hypochlorite leaching method: mainly used for leaching low-grade ore tailings. In the leaching process, sodium hypochlorite itself will slowly resolve oxygen, some other metal sulfides will be oxidized by sodium hypochlorite hydroxide ion, these metals will precipitate and promote the production of molybdate, molybdenum solution returned to slag. The method needs mild reaction conditions, easy production control, and low requirement for equipment, but the consumption of raw material sodium hypochlorite is large and the production cost is too high.

Electrooxidation leaching method: it is improved by sodium hypochlorite method, the method is adding molybdenite mineral slurry to the electrolytic tank, has been equipped with Sodium Chloride Solution in the electro-oxidation process, Cl2 and anode products react with water to produce hypochlorite, molybdenum sulfide hypochlorite oxidation in minerals, to form molybdenum molybdate into solution. The method has the advantages such as a high leaching rate of sodium hypochlorite, mild reaction condition, and no pollution, and can conveniently control and adjust the direction, the limit, and the rate of the reaction.

At present, there are some new methods, for example, molybdenite is not roasted, directly used oxygen pressure cooking method or bacterial leaching method to extract pure molybdenum trioxide. For low-grade oxide ore, use sulfuric acid to leach, ion exchange, and extraction method to extract pure molybdenum trioxide from solution.

Application overview of molybdenum

Molybdenum is used in the leading position in the iron and steel industry, accounting for about 80% of the total consumption of molybdenum, followed by the chemical industry, accounting for about 10%. In addition, molybdenum has also been used in electrical and electronic technology, medicine and agriculture, and other fields, accounting for about 10% of the total consumption.

Molybdenum is a metal element discovered later. As an important metal resource, it has the advantages of high strength, high melting point, corrosion resistance and grinding resistance. Molybdenum metal is widely used in industrial fields. As a result, the demand for molybdenum metal is also increasing. Obtaining high-quality molybdenum concentrates has long been a focus of concentrators. In this article, Xinhai will introduce a detailed molybdenum production process for you. Its process can be divided into: crushing and screening process, grinding and classification process, flotation separation process and concentration and dehydration process.

• 01

  Molybdenum ore crushing and screening process

• 02

  Contact us to discuss your requirements of Molybdenum Sheet. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.

  Molybdenum ore grinding and classification process

• 03

  Molybdenum ore flotation separation process

• 04

  Molybdenum ore concentration and dehydration process

01

Molybdenum ore crushing and screening process

The crushing and screening stage of molybdenum ore mainly adopts two stages and one closed circuit crushing and screening process. The main process is: the molybdenum ore in the raw ore silo enters the jaw crusher for coarse crushing through the trough feeder, and the coarsely crushed molybdenum ore is transported to the circular vibrating screen by the belt conveyor for screening, and the screen material enters the fine ore silo to be stored, and the oversize material is returned to the crushing stage for fine crushing because the ore particle size does not meet the requirements. Generally, a cone crusher is used for fine crushing. After crushing, the ore discharged from the cone crusher and the ore discharged from the jaw crusher are sent to the circular vibrating screen for processing.

02

Molybdenum ore grinding and classification process

In the grinding and classification of molybdenum ore, in order to improve the working efficiency of the ball mill and the recovery rate of concentrate, the concentrator generally adopts the second-stage grinding and classification operation. The specific process of the first grinding and classifying stage is as follows: the molybdenum ore stored in the powder ore bin enters the ball mill through the action of the belt feeder and the belt conveyor for grinding. After grinding, the slurry enters the pump box and is pumped into the hydrocyclone by the slurry pump for classification. The overflow part enters the stirring tank. The underflow part is returned to the ball mill for regrinding. The second-stage grinding and classifying operation process is the same as that of the first-stage, which is generally carried out after the first-stage sweeping separation process.

03

Molybdenum ore flotation separation process

Consistent with the above-mentioned grinding and classifying operations, the flotation process of "one coarse and one fine" will be used for the flotation of molybdenum ore. In order to improve the flotation efficiency, flotation reagents can be added to the high-efficiency mixing tank. The type of flotation reagent added is determined by the property of the mineral itself. The fully stirred pulp is transported to the flotation machine for a rough separation. During flotation, the bubbles in the flotation machine will collide with the ore particles dynamically, and the combination of the bubble particles will be statically separated. In this way, the molybdenum ore concentrate particles can be separated from other substances, which is more conducive to the separation of molybdenum ore. The remaining material is sent to tailings for disposal. The first stage of selection is after the second stage of grinding and classification, aiming to improve the concentrate quality and recovery rate. The process is consistent with a sweep selection.

04

Molybdenum ore concentration and dehydration process

The molybdenum concentrate obtained after flotation contains a lot of water. In order to meet the production standard, it is necessary to use a high-efficiency thickener to remove the water in the concentrate. Concentrated ore slurry after underflow concentration flows into the pump box, and is pumped into the filter press by the slurry pump for re-dehydration. The filter cake after pressure filtration is molybdenum ore concentrate, which is stored in the filter cake tank. The overflow water of the concentrator and the filtrate of the filter press can be returned to the system for reuse.

The above is the detailed molybdenum production process flow. The above process design and equipment configuration are for reference only. Because the mine is different, the characteristics and composition of the ore are different, the design of the beneficiation process and the configuration of the equipment are also different. It can be seen that the beneficiation test is necessary before the design of the beneficiation process. Xinhai, as the initiator and practitioner of the whole mining industry chain service (EPC+M+O), we can provide you with advanced and reliable mineral processing tests. At the same time, we can also design suitable molybdenum beneficiation process for you, customize efficient beneficiation equipment, and provide perfect after-sales installation and commissioning services. If necessary, welcome to consult Xinhai.

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