5 Differences Between Sea Sand and River Sand

River Sand is a kind of small particle produced by repeated impact, collision or friction of stone by river in a long period of natural state. Sea Sand refers to the sand eroded by sea water without desalination, mostly from the junction of sea water and rivers, containing corrosive salts. River sand and sea sand are different, how to distinguish them? And what is different between sea sand washing plant and river sand washing plant?

1.Different Appearance between river sand and sea sand

In terms of appearance color, the sea sand is darker, dark brown and lighter. The color of river sand is relatively brightly yellow.

From the aspect of particle size, the grain size of river sand is coarser, with moderate surface roughness and less impurities. Sea sand is very fine, even some like powder, this is absolutely not used.

In terms of particle fragments, sea sand generally has fragments such as shells, while river sand has pebbles of different sizes.

2.Different Specifications between river sand and sea sand

The river sand used in the construction has certain specifications. In the process of river sand screening, river sand is generally divided into 4-8 mesh, 8-16 mesh, 10-20 mesh, 20-40 mesh, 40-70 mesh and 50-100 mesh, which refers to the number of sand particles within one inch circle. There is no such fine and clear rule classification for sea sand.

3.Different Handle between river sand and sea sand

Grab a handful of sand and then beat it off. It’s sea sand that feels sticky and doesn’t clean. If it’s not sticky, it’s river sand.

4.Different Taste between river sand and sea sand

Taste the taste, found that salty is sea sand, not salty is river sand. At present, there are also many Sea Sands that have been desalted. We can soak the sands in the water for a period of time and taste the taste of the water. The salty and astringent one is Sea Sands.

5.Different Ingredients between river sand and sea sand

The main composition of sea sand is silica, the crystal phase is mainly quartz, feldspar and debris particles are less, mica content is less, and the roundness is also good.

The silicon content of river sand is lower, the metal ions such as calcium and aluminum are more, and the mica sheet content is also more. But this is only an average situation in general, sometimes there are special cases, and it is difficult to have specific quantitative indicators.

Advantages of River Sand

Sand particles are smooth and clean;

It has a wide range of sources, convenient materials and low cost;

River sand has no taste, while sea sand has salt taste;

Good water permeability and air permeability.

For more information about silica sand and sand washing machine, please see https://www.9silica.com , or contact Sionine directly by +86-18118821087(wahtsapp).

Applying Sinonine Sand Washing Plant to Foundry Sand Preparation

The production of foundry sand requires specialist screening and classification systems and involves detailed analysis of feed material and sand grade specifications. Foundry sand (also known as casting sand) consists primarily of clean, uniformly sized, high-quality silica sand that is bonded to form moulds for ferrous (iron and steel) and nonferrous (copper, aluminum, brass) metal castings.

silica sand washing plant

The most common casting process used in the foundry industry is the sand cast system. Virtually all sand cast moulds for ferrous castings use green sand. Green sand consists of high-quality silica sand, bentonite clay (as the binder), water and coal (a carbonaceous mould additive to improve casting finish). The type of metal being cast determines which additives and what grade of sand is used. It is clear that particle size range is the most important criteria for the sand for foundry and also that it should not contain clay. If required the silica content can be enhanced thorough certain processes.

Foundry sand washing plant

Sinonine has a high level of expertise in the production of sand for foundry application, developing its own screening and classification technology. Sinonine have developed a process for accurately separating the oversize particles and removing clay though the hydraulic classifier based washing system, which could be either single stage or double stage depending on the level of clay present. Finally the product is dewatered in the efficient dewatering screen resulting in a dewatered product having around 12 % moisture. In most instances scrubbing is also necessary to release the clay which is bound to the ore. This is usually done through drum scrubbers and attrition scrubbers either before or after screening of the raw sand. During these processes the silica levels in the product is also enhanced.

sand washing plant

Sinonine has supplied a number of sand washing plant for the preparation of foundry sand all of which are operating successfully. The advantage of these plants is that the oversize of the screen (+600 µm) can be used for construction sand as all the silt has been removed. This makes our sand washing plant highly cost effective. The plants are also highly flexible and could be suitably modified by addition of scrubbing and gravity separation equipment to convert into plants for glass sand washing plant if suitable raw material is available.

For more information about sand washing machine and sand washing plant, please visit Sinonine website www.9silica.com, or contact us directly by +86-18118821087(Watsapp)

EXAMPLES OF MINERAL PROCESSING OPERATIONS

Figure 1 shows a typical flowsheet for crushing and sizing rock in a quarrying operation. Run-of-mine ore can be present as lumps as large as 1.5 m (5 ft) in diameter. In this figure’s example, 91.4-cm (3-ft) lumps of rock are fed to a Jaw crusher that reduces the material to 20.3 cm (8 in.) or less in diameter. After screening to remove rock that is less than 57.2 mm (21/4 in.) in size, rock between the sizes of 57.2 mm (21/4 in.) and 20.3 cm (8 in.) is further reduced in size by a gyratory crusher. The product from this step is then classified by screening to the desired product for sale.

 

 

Figure 2 shows an integrated circuit demonstrating crushing, grinding, size separation, and gravity concentration of a tin ore. Initial size separation is effected with a grizzly set at 11/2-in. Oversize material is fed to a jaw crusher set at 11/2-in., and the crushed product is, then, further reduced in size to 20 mesh by ball milling. The –20-mesh material is classified by hydrocyclones set at 150 mesh, and the –150-mesh material is sent to shaking tables to concentrate the heavy tin mineral, cassiterite. The middlings in this process receive additional treatment. The concentrate from this operation is reground and sized at 200 mesh. Two-stage vanning is used to produce a fine tin concentrate.

 

 

The flowsheet describing the flotation processing of a copper ore containing chalcopyrite and molybdenite is shown in Figure 3. After grinding and classification, pulp is fed to rougher flotation machine. The rougher tailings are thickened and sent to a tailings dam. The rougher concentrate is classified, and the oversize is reground. Cyclone overflow is fed to cleaner flotation, and the cleaner concentrate is recleaned. Cleaner tailings are recycled back to rougher flotation, and the recleaner concentrate is thickened and sent to the molybdenum recovery plant for further processing. In this operation, the feed contains 0.32% Cu and 0.03% Mo. Rougher concentrate, cleaner concentrate, and recleaner concentrate contain 7%–9% Cu, 18% Cu, and 25% Cu, respectively. Recleaner concentrate also contains 2%–3% Mo.

 

 

Figure 4 depicts a flowsheet for processing free-milling oxidized gold ore processing. The kinetics of gold leaching is slow, and gold ores are frequently ground to less than about 75 μm before leaching. Even then, one day is usually required in the leaching step. In this process, run-of-mine ore is crushed and ground. The ball mill discharge in subjected to gravity concentration to recover the larger particles of free gold. The tailings from this operation are thickened, and the underflow from the thickeners is then subjected to cyanide leaching. In some instances, ores may contain oxygen-consuming minerals, such as pyrrhotite and marcasite, and a preaeration step may be conducted ahead of cyanide leaching.

 

 

 

Heap leaching has revolutionized the gold mining industry. Low-grade oxidized ores containing approximately 0.03 oz gold per short ton of ore can be processed with this technology, whereas they could not be processed by the higher cost grinding/agitation leaching (milling) process. Figure 5 presents a simplified flowsheet of heap leaching. As the figure shows, run-of-mine ore may or may not be crushed. If crushing is done, the ore is generally crushed to <2 in. in diameter.

 

 

 

Sinonine technology team

CONVEYING EQUIPMENTS

Manufacturers of mechanical conveyors and elevators have made available to the basic industries a wide variety of equipment for moving bulk solid materials for mineral processing plant.  Sinonine looks closely at a number of devices, both stationary and portable, that convey bulk solids between two fixed points with a continuous drive and either a continuous or intermittent forward movement. Because covering each one in detail here would be impractical, this section will focus on a few of the most common types: belt conveyor, screw conveyor, chain conveyor, and vibratory conveyors, as well as bucket elevators.

Belt Conveyors

The endless moving belt, perhaps the most popular of conveyors, is widely employed to transport materials horizontally or on an incline, either up or down. Figure 1 shows a typical belt conveyor arrangement, identifying the five main components of the system:

1. The belt, which forms the moving and supporting surface on which the conveyed material rides
2. The idlers, which form the supports for the carrying and return strands of the belt
3. The pulleys, which support and move the belt and control its tension
4. The drive, which imparts power to one or more pulleys to move the belt and its load
5. The structure, which supports and maintains the alignment of the idlers and pulleys and supports the driving machinery.

 

 

Almost all belt conveyors for bulk solids use rubber-covered belts, the inner carcass of which provides the strength to pull and support the load. The carcass is protected from damage by rubber layers that vary in thickness for different applications.

Belt conveyors can move material at rates ranging from a few kilograms or pounds per minute to thousands of metric tons or short tons per hour. A great variety of materials can be handled. Depending on belt width, however, lump size can be a limitation, and dusty compounds can be troublesome. Wet or sticky bulk solids warrant special consideration, and temperatures higher than 66°C (150°F) should be approached with caution. Some solids react with rubber in the belt, necessitating a special covering for the belt.

The maximum slope over which a belt conveyor can operate depends, of course, on the characteristics of the product. Most conveyor manufacturers have data on the maximum suggested angles for various materials. For the average application, limiting the angle of inclination to somewhat less than the suggested maximum is a good idea.

Figure 1 shows a typical cross section of a troughed-belt conveyor. In most country , the standard troughing angles are 0°, 20°, 35°, and 45°. The angle of surcharge is a property of the material and can be compared with the dynamic angle of repose. Tables are available that list cross-sectional areas for different surcharge angles.

Screw Conveyors

A screw conveyor usually consists of a long-pitch, steel-helix flight mounted on a shaft, supported by bearings within a U-shaped trough (see Figure 2). As the element rotates, material fed to it is moved forward by the thrust of the lower part of the helix and is discharged through openings in the trough bottom or at the end. When properly used, this type of conveyor does a good job, and its cost will often be only about half that of another type of conveyor. A screw conveyor is easy to maintain, inexpensive to replace, and readily made dust-tight. For many uses, it is the preferred type of conveyor.

 

 

 

Screw conveyors can be operated with the path inclined upward, but capacity decreases rapidly as the inclination increases. A standard-pitch screw inclined at 15° above horizontal retains 70% of its horizontal capacity. If the screw is inclined 25°, the capacity is reduced to 40%; if it is inclined 45°, the material will move along the floor of the trough at a greatly reduced rate. For steep inclines, the helix may be given a short pitch, and the trough may be made tubular to reduce the capacity loss. With a jam feed, such a conveyor can deliver about 50% of its horizontal capacity at a 45° incline.

The allowable loading and screw speed are limited by the characteristics of the material. Light, free-flowing, nonabrasive materials fill the trough deeply, permitting a higher rotating speed than with heavier and more abrasive materials.

Chain Conveyors

Chain conveyors employ continuous chains that travel the entire length of the conveyor, transmitting the pull from the driving unit and, in some cases, carrying the whole weight of the transported material. The material may be carried directly by the chains, by flights pushed or towed by the chains, or by special attachments fitted to the chains. The conveyor types derive their names from the attachment; for example, apron conveyors, flight conveyors, and drag-chain conveyors (see Figure 3). Chain conveyors are particularly suited for systems that require complete enclosure (for dust containment), minimal conveyor housing cross sections, the ability to load or discharge materials at different points from the same conveyor, combinations of horizontal and vertical paths, or the handling of materials at elevated temperatures.

Conveying equipments are necessary for mineral processing plant, such as iron ore processing , lead zinc ore processing, gold ore processing etc..

 

Sinonine technology team

Quartz sand production line

Quartz raw ore or quartz sand needs to be purified to remove impurities, such as iron, aluminum trioxide, mica, etc., so as to obtain high purity quartz sand. The SiO2 content of quartz sand after processing can reach 99% or higher, and the iron content should be reduced to 0.03% or lower, so as to meet different industrial use. The quartz sand can also be processed into quartz powder through drying and grinding.

Technical process

The following is the usual purification process of quartz sand. The raw ore is crushed and screened to remove impurities, then washed and scrubbed to further remove the impurities from quartz sand. Then the symbiotic metal and non-metal impurities are removed by flotation and finally the high purity quartz sand is obtained by rinse.The main process steps are as follows:

1. Raw ore treatment

The common quartz ore is generally quartz lump ore and silica sand. The quartz lump ore needs to be crushed up to 25mm and then ground by rod milling to a certain size, and then enters the subsequent washing, scrubbing, flotation and other processes. The silica sand needs to be screened out the impurities such as soil, organic matter and so on before entering the next stage of processing.

2. Preliminary cleaning and dewatering

The treated raw ore can enter the screw sand washer for preliminary cleaning and dewatering, and some impurities can be removed. At the same time, dewatering is carried out, so that the concentration of quartz sand slurry reaches 60-70%, which is preparation for the subsequent scrubbing operation.

3. Scrubbing

The adjusted slurry of quartz sand is sent to the scrubber for scrubbing. After continuous scrubbing, the soil, impurities covering the surface of quartz sand are separated, and then slurry goes into the washing operation for further treatment.

4. Secondary washing

After scrubbing, impurities and quartz sand have been separated, impurities exist in the surface of quartz sand and slurry, through the screw sand washer the purity of quartz sand can be further improved.

5. Quartz sand flotation

There are some impurities such as iron oxide, aluminum oxide and mica in the quartz sand after washing. At this time, the impurities can be effectively removed by adding appropriate flotation agents through flotation machine process, so as to obtain higher purity quartz sand.

6. Further washing and dewatering

After flotation, quartz concentrate can be dewatered by screw sand washer to obtain the final high-purity quartz sand, and its SiO2 content can reach more than 99%.

7. Other processes

According to the actual production needs, the quartz sand after flotation can be further dewatered and dried, and then through the quartz sand grinding and classifying system the quartz powder can be obtained to meet different industrial needs.

 

Our company can provide a complete set of quartz sand processing and purification  solution and equipments. In addition to the conventional treatment process mentioned above, we can also use particle size classification, strong magnetic separation, acid leaching and other technological processes according to the property of quartz sand to produce high-purity quartz sand products with different requirements.

Silica sand beneficiation plant flowsheet:

 

Sinonine technology team

METALLURGICAL EFFICIENCY

One of the most important and basic concepts in beneficiation plant is metallurgical efficiency. Two terms are commonly used to describe the efficiency of metallurgical processes: recovery and grade. These phenomena are illustrated in the generalized process presented in Figure 1.

 

In above example, 100 tph of ore are being fed into a concentration operation that produces 4.5 tph of concentrate and 95.5 tph of tailings. In upgrading this process, then, 1.0 tph of the desired material, A, is introduced into the unit operation and 0.9 tph (4.5 × 0.2) of this material reports to the concentrate, resulting in 90% recovery (0.9/1.0 × 100). The grade of the mineral, A, has been improved from 1% to 20%. The term percent recovery refers to the percentage of the valuable material reporting to the concentrate with reference to the amount of this material in the feed. Note that obtaining the highest possible recovery is not necessarily the best approach in a concentration process. High recovery without acceptable grade will lead to an unsalable product and is therefore unsatisfactory.

Mineral processing plant engineers are responsible for optimizing processes to yield the highest possible recovery with acceptable purity (grade) for the buyers or engineers who will treat this concentrate further to extract the metal values, such as lead zinc ore processing, gold ore processing and iron ore processing etc.. To achieve this goal, economic assessments of all possible technological alternatives must be conducted.

 

Sinonine technology team

Mineral processing unit operations

UNIT OPERATIONS

In mineral processing plant, Numerous steps, called unit operations, are involved in achieving the goal of extracting minerals and metals from ores in their purest possible form. These steps include

Size reduction. The process of crushing and grinding ores is known as comminution (jaw crusher and ball mill usually involved). The purpose of the comminution process is threefold: (1) to liberate valuable minerals from the ore matrix, (2) to increase surface area for high reactivity, and (3) to facilitate the transport of ore particles between unit operations.

Size separation. Crushed and ground products generally require classification by particle size. Sizing can be accomplished by using classifiers, screens, or water elutriators. Screens are used for coarse particulate sizing; cyclones are used with fine particulates.

Concentration. Physicochemical properties of minerals and other solids are used in concentration operations. Froth flotation machine, gravity concentration, and magnetic and electrostatic concentration are used extensively in the industry.

— Froth flotation. The surface properties of minerals (composition and electrical charge) are used in combination with collectors, which are heterogeneous compounds containing a polar component and a nonpolar component for selective separations of minerals. The nonpolar hydrocarbon chain provides hydrophobicity to the mineral after adsorption of the polar portion of the collector on the surface.

— Gravity concentration. Differences in the density of minerals are used to effect separations of one mineral from another. Equipment available includes jigs, shaking tables, and spirals. Heavy medium is also used to facilitate separation of heavy minerals from light minerals.

— Magnetic and electrostatic concentration. Differences in magnetic susceptibility and electrical conductivity of minerals are utilized in processing operations when applicable.

Dewatering. Most mineral processing operations are conducted in the presence of water. Solids must be separated from water for metal production. This is accomplished with thickeners and filters.

Aqueous dissolution. Many metals are recovered from ores by dissolving the desired metal(s)—in a process termed leaching—with various lixiviants in the presence of oxygen. Following leaching, the dissolved metals can be concentrated by carbon adsorption, ion exchange, or solvent extraction. Purified and concentrated metals may be recovered from solution with a number of reduction techniques, including cementation and electrowinning.

 

Sinonine technology team

Quartz powder production line

This system is a set of quartz powder production line, which adopts special quartz sand ball mills and air classifier as grinding and classifying equipments respectively. The quartz powder produced is of uniform particle size and pollution-free, the particle size is convenient for control, large-scale production can be realized.

 

Features and technology advantages

1. The ball mill and classifier are specially designed to ensure the efficient production of quartz powder;
2. The whole process is under negative pressure, which is not easy to produce dust pollution;
3. The production line adopts centralized control to reduce the labor intensity of operators.

 

Working principle

After crushing the quartz sand is fed into the ball mill by the bucket hoist for grinding. After grinded by the ball mill, the quartz sand is transported to the classifier through screw conveyor for particle size classification, and the finished products are stored in batches according to the products’ particle size requirements. The automatic control system controls and adjusts the whole system to ensure the mining machines normal operation of the production line.

Quartz powder production line equipment list

 

Capacity (kg/h)	Ball mill	Air classifier	Total power (kw)	Product granularity(um)	classifying precision	Dedusting area (m2)	dust concentration (mg/m3)
480-600	SQG1245	SSF50	< 75	5-50	D97	> 50	<40
720-1080	SQG1557	SSF100	< 145	5-50	D97	> 70	<40
2100-2400	SQG1870	SSF200	< 225	5-50	D97	> 100	<40
3000-3600	SQG2270	SSF400	< 345	5-50	D97	> 120	<40
4200-4800	SQG2470	SSF600	< 550	5-50	D97	> 200	<40
5000-6600	SQG2680	SSF800	< 665	5-50	D97	> 200	<40
7000-9000	SQG2611	SSF1200	< 800	5-50	D97	> 300	<40

Any change of technical parameters, there is no further notice.

 

Sinonine technology team

Tailings dry discharge

Tailings dry drainage is a new tailings disposal technology at beneficiation plant industry, refers to the output of the mineral processing tailings by cyclone multistage concentration, treatment of efficient dewatering equipment such as dehydration vibrating screen, to form an low aqueous precipitation curing slag and can use of the site to pile, slag can be transported to a fixed location for dry piling.

Process features

1. Process adaptability is strong, the tailings of coarse, fine particles targeted treatment.
2. Rapid dry row of coarse grade tailings by cyclone and dewatering screen.
3. Thickener, filter to achieve fine-grained tailings dry drainage.
4. Due to the cyclone and the dewatering screen to achieve most of the dry tailings row, reduces the subsequent concentration and filter equipment load, saves equipment investment and operation cost.
5. Circulating water in situ recycling.

Main mining machines

1.High efficiency concentrated hydrocyclone

The unique design of the hydrocyclone, under the same operating conditions compared with ordinary cyclone, the same overflow fineness, classification efficiency of hydrocyclone at high concentration increased by more than 10%, the highest in the production practice can be improved by more than 27%, even in the feed concentration of 10%, the underflow concentration can still maintain 65% above, the yield reached 75%.

2.Tailings dewatering screen

Dewatering screen mainly have these characteristics: high frequency vibration, screen angle design to promote the sieve material continuous emission, processing unit area is large; high-quality wear-resistant plate, good dehydration effect, long service life; the objects on the screen with low water content; low noise, low power consumption and easy maintenance.

3.others filtration and dewatering equipment

According to the process requirements, supporting the efficient thickener, vacuum belt dewatering machine, automatic press filter, the filter press dewatering equipment, makes the production line a high degree of automation, large capacity.

 

 

Sinonine technology team

GOALS AND BASICS OF MINERAL PROCESSING

In the traditional sense, mineral processing is regarded as the processing of ores or other materials to yield concentrated products. Most of the processes involve physical concentration procedures during which the chemical nature of the mineral(s) in question does not change. In hydrometallurgical processing, however, chemical reactions invariably occur; these systems are operated at ambient or elevated temperatures depending on the kinetics of the processes.

The lead zinc ore processing in the production of metals(iron ore processing) is to yield metals in their purest form. Mineral processing plays an integral part in achieving this objective. Figure 1 shows a generalized flow diagram for metals extraction from mining (step 1) through chemical processing.

Steps 2 and 3 involve physical processing and steps 5 and 7 involve low-temperature chemical processing (hydrometallurgy).

All four steps are considered part of mineral processing. High-temperature smelting and refining (pyrometallurgy), steps 4 and 6, are not included under the heading of mineral processing.

 

 

 

Table 1 specifies processing routes from ore to pure metal for a number of metals. Note that processing routes can be quite different and that more than one route may be possible for many of these metals. For example, in the extraction of copper or gold ore processing from low-grade ores, dump or heap leaching is commonly practiced. The choice of this leaching practice is frequently driven by the overall economics of the operation. Because crushing and grinding of ores are quite expensive, leaching of ores in large sizes is attractive compared to the leaching of finely ground ores, even though the overall recovery of metals from the leaching of fine particles is, in general, much greater than that obtained with large particles. The introduction of this innovative leaching process has made feasible the mining of many mineral deposits that could not be processed economically through conventional technologies.

 

 

Sinonine technology team