Barite is a versatile mineral used in various industries such as petroleum, chemicals, and metallurgy as a chemical agent and has more than 2000 uses. Barite is a non-metallic mineral that is composed of barium sulfate. Barite occurs naturally in sedimentary rocks. Barite has a highly dense mineral of 4.5g/cm3. The physical appearance of barite is white, yellow, or gray. Barite is a soft mineral with a hardness of 2.5 to 3.5 on the Mohs scale. Being a dense material, barite is not soluble in water and ranks low in the solubility index, with low solubility in common chemical solvents.
Barite is an immensely useful mineral used in the production processes of a diverse range of industries. Let us take a brief look at the varied uses of barite.
In oil and gas extraction, barite is used as a weighting agent in drilling fluids to enhance the process. Barite’s high density curbs excessive pressure exerted by drilling fluid, and it also acts as a lubricant.
When it comes to medical imaging and diagnostics like X-ray and CT scans, Barite sulfate is given to patients orally so that the gastrointestinal tract can be seen more visibly in the scan. This results in a better diagnosis for stomach ailments like ulcers, etc.
To increase the brightness of paints and make a paint less transparent since the Barite minerals bend light rays. The addition of barite during paint manufacture also increases the weather resistance of paints and makes the paint layer able to withstand harsh weather and rain.
The mining procedure of barite is relatively simple. Barite mining involves the open-pit mining method. However, deeper deposits of barium mean that underground mining is used to extract barite. This involves making tunnels to have access to barite deposits. Open pit mining consists of removing the upper layers of soil or rock and not digging tunnels.
Barite is in its raw form and needs to be treated to become suitable for industrial application. In barite processing, the barite is purified. The barite is crushed into a powder and then undergoes a variety of processes in the barite processing plant to separate pure barite from other minerals. Let’s explore deeply about barium processing.
Barite is a relatively soft material that can be crushed quite easily. The machine tools involved in crushing are a jaw crusher and an impact crusher. In the initial stage, the jaw crusher activates and crushes huge barite rocks into smaller pieces. An impact crusher then works on the smaller-sized barite chunks to crush them further into fine powder.
The barite chunks are separated using a circular vibrating screen in the screening process. The separated barium is then sent to the cone crusher.
This is the central and most important barite processing operation. It involves a cone crusher, also known as a making machine. This specialized crusher consists of three modes of crushing: medium, fine, and ultra-fine. The sand-making machine is truly an engineering marvel. It is capable of crushing hard materials, so it applies sufficient force to crush barite effectively. The machine operation is eco-friendly, so barite crushing is environmentally friendly. Moreover, the plant has a large output and is a highly efficient machine.
Barite crushing consists of producing barite of three grades. A coarse powder has a particle size of 0-3mm, and fine powder processing has a particle size of 20 mesh to 400 mesh. And ultra-fine powder with a particle size of 400 mesh -1250 mesh. The ultra-fine powder is more like fine dust and is collected using a vacuum airflow. The fine powder is then sent into the finished product silo through a pipe. In the finished silo, the barite powder is packaged by a machine called an automatic baler.
Barite is a common mineral of the earth’s crust. It is frequently seen as rock veins in limestone and dolostone rock surfaces. Carbonate rocks like these become worn out by harsh weather elements, and large barite deposits are found between the region where soil merges with the carbonate stone bedrock. Another source of barite is in sandstone and sand concretion. Such a combination of sand and sandstone is a perfect environment for barite crystallization. The barite mineral crystallizes between the holes in sand grains. Barite crystal deposits make lovely shapes in the sand. These structures are termed ‘barite roses.’ Barite is also found in hydrothermal veins. It is seen close to the veins of rarer metals like copper, lead, manganese, cobalt, and antimony.
These include the following processes
Manual separation is a convenient and inexpensive procedure. However, it can be time-consuming. The process is done after coarse crushing of top-grade barite ore.
Separation is done through a jigging machine. In this type of separation, the selection is first graded through particle size. Gravity separation becomes challenging for barite complex ores containing intricately associated minerals and for barite ores characterized by fine mineral particle size and low raw ore grade. Achieving a high concentrate grade under these conditions is difficult through gravity separation alone. Consequently, additional separation methods, such as flotation, must be integrated to attain the desired outcome.
As barite ore resources deplete gradually, the ore composition becomes more complex, and the demand for high-grade and finely processed barite products intensifies in practical applications. Under these circumstances, conventional methods like gravity separation fail to meet the requirements. Consequently, flotation has emerged as the predominant technique for barite separation.
Flotation not only plays a crucial role in addressing the challenges posed by complex ores in traditional beneficiation processes but is also frequently employed for purifying salt minerals. Within barite flotation, the interaction between collectors and barite minerals plays a pivotal role in determining the grade and recovery rate of barite concentrate.