A JOURNEY TOWARDS CHARACTERISATION OF PROCESSED INDIAN MINERALS - XRD AND XRF APPROACH
B. S. Acharya and Rajeev Regional Research Laboratory, Bhubaneswar 751 013, Orissa, India
Keywords: XRD, XRF, Qualitative and Quantitative, Phase Analysis, Coal
ABSTRACT
Minerals in general are complex materials not only for handling, processing and using in industries but also complex from characterization point of view. Minerals coming out of the mines and thereafter subjected to mechanical milling, chemical attrition and various leaching treatments are totally different in their physical properties thus influencing their behaviour during processing. Characterisation of minerals using surface area and porosity measurement, infrared spectra, x-ray photoelectron spectra etc. are some of the methods used in the recent past years. X-ray fluorescence and x-ray diffraction have been used to know the elemental constituents and phase contents in any mineral in qualitative and quantitative way. Although work have been carried out in different countries using above techniques, detailed investigations in Indian minerals during ore-dressing processes and thereafter have not been carried out exhaustively. Our experience on Indian minerals tells that systematic characterisation of minerals during processing and thereafter helps in improving the process parameter as well as leads to achieve the goal of beneficiation and upgradation of low grade ores. In this context, beneficiation of coal, nickel laterite or overburden chromite ores from Orissa and worlframite of India have been studied using x-ray fluorescence and x-ray diffraction. It has been observed that separate approaches are required for characterisation of these materials. Detailed methods and their advantages for characterization of these materials will be presented and discussed in this paper.
Publication Source: Trends in NDE Science & Technology; Proceedings of the 14th World Conference on Non-Destructive Testing, New Delhi, 8-13 December 1996.Vol. 2, pages 811 - 814 Publisher:Ashgate Publishing Company
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