VNII Galurgy Stock Co., St. Petersburg, Russia:

N. K. Andreeva, Senior Researcher, Candidate of Engineering Sciences, alekskim@mail.ru

Potash products of all brands being manufactured are the disperse material with such principal characteristics as looseness (flow ability) and particle size distribution. Disperse material has good mechanical properties if it is able to retain them under the influence of moisture and temperature of ambient environment in the course of transportation and storage. This work has given substantiation and developed the process for production of potassium chloride, which provides the physical and mechanical product properties upgrading on the base of physical and chemical mechanics of disperse structures, according to which disperse properties of disperse materials are determined and its depend on energy state of constituting material grains, crystals, granules, agglomerates. During sylvinite ore processing on the stages of crushing, benification, vacuum-crystalization, drying, crystal disperse material obtains additional energy, which is to be realized and compensated. Excess surface energy of finished disperse material particles is realized in the agglomeration process on the warehouse and during transportation, at that the products become caked and lose flowability. It is proposed to solve this problem by including into the process the upgrading stage of particle structure of potassium chloride concentrate of wet flotation or hot leaching before drying. According to the developed technology it is proposed to make crystal structure upgrading into the special apparatus – speed turbo-bladed mixer-granulator providing close contact interaction of potassium chloride concentrate particles. Obtained in the agglomeration process the wet disperse material, which has ideal equilibrium excess energy free structure is exposed to the drying in the apparatus of any construction at the temperature not more, than 110 °C. Into the turbo-bladed mixer, along with wet KCl — is supplied dry hot product — cyclone dust from drying stage and, if necessary, agglomeration reagent solution.

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