Silicon (2022) 14:87–97

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12633-020-00790-x

ORIGINAL PAPER

Quartz Ore Beneficiation by Reverse Flotation for Silicon Production

Sidali Medjahed 1 & Abdelkrim Kheloufi 1 & Ema Bobocioiu 2 & Aissa Kefaifi 1 & Fouad Kerkar 1 & Kheirreddine Lebbou 3

Received: 11 August 2020 / Accepted: 14 October 2020 / Published online: 31 October 2020
# Springer Nature B.V. 2020

Abstract
In this work the reverse flotation as beneficiation process for high-purity silica valorization from Draissa quartz deposits (Algeria)
is studied as a potential raw material for photovoltaic silicon production and starting charge for crystal growth material for a large
wide of applications such laser and scintillation. The samples are investigated by optical microscopy, secondary ion mass
spectroscopy, X-ray fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy. The microscopic investigations detect solid impurities such as
alkaline and plagioclase feldspars, micas and iron oxides. The analyzed silica shows well-developed crystals areas, delimited
by microcrystalline regions. Impurities are predominantly located in low quartz granulometry (50-100 μm). The XRF results
highlight 93.63 wt% SiO2, 0.16 wt%, Fe2O3, 0.171 wt% Cl, 0.15 wt% CaO, 5.74 wt% Al2O3, 0.074 wt% K2O, 0.001 wt% CdO,
0.006 wt% SnO2. However, these results remain insufficient for predestined use of this raw material. A preliminary enrichment
using reverse flotation process improves the silica purity up to 99.6% and removes the major impurities, which is suitable
intermediate technological product able for silicon production and optical application.

Keywords Draissa . Quartz . Characterization . Flotation . Silica . Silicon

1 Introduction strength for industry such us pure silica for photovoltaic sili-
con production.
Reliable and unhindered access to silica is a growing concern. The growth of photovoltaic (PV) industry is mainly based
It is of high importance to the industry and of high risk asso- on silicon solar cells and reducing the cost of silicon wafers
ciated with their supply. Algeria is thought to be one of the [1]. Due to the advantages of low production cost and rela-
suppliers of natural resources and especially silica raw mate- tively high conversion efficiency, multicrystalline silicon has
rial. Its strategy is to develop raw materials into a major become the main material used for PV.

Highlights
• Draissa quartz deposits (Algeria) is studied as a potential raw material
for photovoltaic silicon production and crystal growth material
• Solid impurities such as alkaline and plagioclase feldspars, micas and
iron oxides are detected
• The reverse flotation process used in three stages as a high efficiency
selective process of quartz beneficiation
• The recoveries rate of hematite, mica and feldspar achieve 97 wt%,
99 wt% and 99wt% respectively
• Reverse flotation increases the quartz concentration up to 99.65% SiO2
which is suitable product able for silicon production for photovoltaic
application.

* Abdelkrim Kheloufi 2
Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon -Terre, Planètes, Environnement,
[email protected] Université de Lyon, École Normale Supérieure de Lyon, Allée
d’Italie, 69364 Cedex 07, Lyon, France
1
Centre de Recherche de la Technologie des Semi-conducteurs pour 3
l’Energétique, 02 Bd Frantz Fanon, BP 140 Alger, 7Merveilles, CNRS, Institut Lumière Matière, Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1,
Algérie F-69622 Villeurbanne, France
88 Silicon (2022) 14:87–97

High purity silica is a strategic mineral with a large wide of particles are made hydrophobic and particles mineralized are
applications in high-tech industry that include semiconductors, made hydrophilic (depressed). The gangue and some mid-
optics, electro-magnetic materials, starting charge for crystal dling particles are collected and thus removed in the concen-
growth, synthesis of laser crystals and also the elaboration trate, while some valuable minerals might be entrained along
of silicon single crystals for gravitational waves detectors with them [23, 24]. The entrainment of quartz particles (along
[1–4]. with some middling), in our case occurs to a lesser extent than
Very high purity quartz deposits are extremely rare. Quite the entrainment of gangue particles in froth flotation due to the
often the quartz needs a prior enrichment to be used for ad- existing of smaller mass flux, and the fact that minerals parti-
vanced high-tech applications. cles generally have a larger average particle size than the
In industrial minerals, quartz is often associated with feld- gangue. Consequently, the grade of the obtained quartz should
spar other silicate and oxide minerals, which strongly affect be better than that of conventional flotation.
their properties and performance [3]. High purity quartz is In this work, the Draissa quartz deposit from Bechar
frequently used for photovoltaic silicon and some optical ap- Provence (south west region of Algeria) was studied for its
plications. In this case, the best performance comes from high useful characteristics.
pure silica with low content of chemical impurities, mainly Fe, The Draissa deposits are located in Ougarda Mountains, in
Al, Ti, K, Na, Cr, Ni, Mn and Cu [1–5]. sedimentary terrains of Paleozoic age (Cambrian –
In this context, the content of impurities must to be re- Ordovician) (Fig. 1). They are represented by quartz sand-
moved partially or completely using physical, physicochemi- stone associated with large hydrothermal barite veins, which
cal or chemical appropriate methods, based on their mineral- have already been subjected to previous exploitations. The
ogical studies and also on their quantity and their distribution silica material represents the gangue of the barite mineraliza-
in the ore [5–11]. Therefore, decreasing and removing impu- tion and it is estimated at about 850 million metric tons [25].
rities from the quartz by an effective, environment-friendlier This kind of quartz material should be crucial to Algeria and
method and understanding its mechanism is particularly crit- African economy. It will form a strong industrial base, pro-
ical. Up to now, considerable efforts have been devoted to ducing a broad range of goods and applications used in mod-
these targets [7, 12–22]. ern technologies.
In the Algerian context, in order to secure the supply of raw The preliminary investigations on this quartz deposit show
material for the PV industry, the production of solar-grade its potential sources for photovoltaic and optical applications.
silicon remains imperative. So, looking for a technical, eco-
nomic and environmental solution to control silica production
has become essential for a potential deposit such Draissa 2 Materials and Methods
94 wt% SiO2. Therefore, it is imperative to develop the silica
beneficiation processes to valorize this abundant natural re- Samples from the Draissa deposit were collected from differ-
source and prepare, at the same time, the basics of national ent pits in the area to represent as much as possible the actual
solar industry. deposits. A rigorous sampling was performed with the help of
In the recent years, one of the most promising processes experts from the Algerian mining company of barite
that have been noticed in recent years is the enrichment of “Albaryte”.
silica by flotation method, in which particulate matter The samples were first examined using optical microscopy
(minerals) is separated from the gangue thanks to chemical in both transmitted and reflected lights to collect the necessary
reactants by gas bubbles immersed in water. In this con- information for choosing the appropriate technological purifi-
text, flotation as beneficiation process is used due to its cation process. Then, they were crushed, well mixed, and
high efficiency to reach required high purity silica. So quartered.
far, a particular interest is given mainly to reverse flotation To confirm certain micron-sized mineralogical phases,
over direct flotation as a dynamic multiphasic and high microscopic observations were supplemented with Raman
efficiency selective process of quartz beneficiation. analysis. The Raman characterizations were performed in
Reverse flotation process is used to separate minerals im- the Laboratory of Geology of Lyon (ENS) using a Jobin-
purities as concentrate from valuable mineral as tailings. Yvon Horiba LabRam HR800 VIS spectrometer, equipped
In our case, impurities are presented by mica, dolomite, with focal microscope and CCD detector. Wavelengths at
barite, hematite, iron oxides and feldspar. 514 and 532 nm and objective lenses of 50× were also used
In conventional flotation, the mineral particle values are [1, 26].
hydrophobic while the gangue particles are hydrophilic. The Information regarding the textural relations between parti-
relatively small gangue particles and some middling particles cles, the distribution of intragranular cracks, the purity of the
are entrained (or entrapped) along with the collected particles quartz or its crystallization conditions has been obtained
in the concentrate. In reverse flotation inversely, the gangue using cathodoluminescence techniques performed in
Silicon (2022) 14:87–97 89

Fig. 1 Localization of Draissa Deposit (Geological map of Algeria gprgindonesia.wordpress.com/geologicalsetting-of-algeria. (Accessed

modified after Geopangea Research Group Indonesia). https:// July 4th 2013) [25]

laboratory of Mineralogy (Lithos Center) at Bucharest flotation cell D-12 machine with 4 L cell volume (Fig. 2). The
University. A device with cold cathode (CL 8200MK flotation was carried out in three stages, where the mica was
3A), 0.5 Torr average vacuum pressure, 15-17 kV voltage, removed in the first flotation stage followed by the iron oxides
350-400 mA current intensity, mounted on a Nikon E400 in the second one and finally the feldspar was separated from
optical microscope was employed. quartz in the third stage.
The chemical composition of the samples was analyzed by The obtained concentrates of each stage have been re-
X-ray fluorescence (XRF) using Panalytical Philips Magix moved as impurities. Therefore the obtained tailings were
Pro 2440 spectrometer. The XRF analyzes were carried out treated successively until achieving the high pure silica.
in the laboratory of physics at Blida University, Algeria. During each flotation stage the concentrate was obtained
In order to detect very low concentrations of minor elements and collected after 2 min intervals after addition of required
present in the silica, secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) collector in the pulp. The pulp density was adjusted and
was used. The SIMS analysis can provide concentration pro- conditioned for the needed pH.
files that cover depths ranging from a few of nanometers to First, about 2.5 kg of the quartz rocks with 300 mm average
several of microns, as well as mass spectra up to 300 uma. size was washed, crushed, ground and classified. Before the
The SIMS profiles have been obtained by an IMS 4F-E7 mass flotation, the feed was deslimed, removing any fine clay min-
spectrometer (Cameca, CRTSE-Algeria) with O2+ and Cs + erals present in the raw mineral. After, desliming and classi-
primary ion sources. While SIMS was typically a qualitative fication the pulp underflow less than 100 μm carried out the
methodology, it can be applied in a semi-quantitative manner first stage of flotation process using Duodecyclamine (DDA)
as long as high-quality standards are available. at 99% concentration as a collector and sulfuric acid (H2SO4)
In order to remove the impurities from quartz and increase as gangue depressor and pH regulator. The frother (1% w/v)
its purity up to the required value of 99% SiO2, a reverse was added in the pulp and the system was permitted to be
flotation process was used. The experiments were carried mixed for the conditioning time of 3 min after which air was
out in the laboratory of mineral processing at the National introduced through a rotor located at the bottom of the cell.
Polytechnic School of Algiers using a DENVER laboratory The air flow rate was automatically controlled by a needle
90 Silicon (2022) 14:87–97

recovery rate was the ratio expressed in % of the weight of the

concentrate to the feed weight as shown in eq. 1
C
ŋ¼ 100; % ð1Þ
A
where,
ŋ – Recovery rate; C- Weight concentrate; A – Weight of
feed.

3 Results and Discussion

3.1 Mineralogical and Chemical Characterization of

Draissa Deposit

Samples collected from the investigated region are mainly

represented by sandstones with high degree of compaction.
Under the effect of diagenesis and fluid circulation, the sand-
stone is partially recrystallized in quartzite. The mineralogical
Fig. 2 Laboratory flotation cell DENVER composition fits the sandstone at the limit between “quartz
sandstone” and “subarkose”, with ~90% quartz and 10% feld-
spar or lithic elements (Fig. 3). The quartz grains are usually
valve adjusted depending upon the speed of the stirrer which angular with various sizes ranging between ~10 μm and 1.5-
was used to keep the particles in suspension. After first stage 2 mm, rarely reaching centimeter dimensions. Areas with
flotation, mica concentrate was obtained and weighed (con- well-developed crystals alternate with areas with reduced
centrate 1). granulometry (Fig. 3a).
In the second stage, residual iron minerals, such as ilmenite Cathodoluminescence images highlight the presence of the
and mostly hematite were removed using Sodium oleate overgrowth crowns of quartz granoclasts. The central area is
(NaOL) (100-300 g/t) as a collector. Between the first and characterized by quite important luminescence while, in the
second stage the pulp was subjected to dewatering and wash- overgrowth zone the luminescence is absent (Fig. 3b). The
ing. The dewatering was done in a spiral laboratory classifier. presence or absence of luminescence in the quartz may reflects
The washing was used as an additive operation in order to its purity. Thus, grains without luminescence can be consid-
remove the residual reagents in the tailings. As the same con- ered poor in trace elements or structural defects [27]. The
ditions cited for the first stage and after adding sodium oleate presence of quartz granules is noted, with graphical and grano-
NaOL and pine oil, the iron minerals were removed as con- phyric structures (intergrowths between quartz and alkali feld-
centrate 2. spar) derived from the erosion of magmatic rocks (Fig. 3c).
In the 3rd stage flotation, the feldspar was activated by HF, However, the quartz is not only present like granoclasts. It is
collected by DDA and frothed using pine oil. The use of also developing like autigenetic cement or recrystallizations
fluoride acid (HF) at 40% was to activate the feldspar and also (Fig. 3d). These recrystallizations are very important because
to suppress at the same time the quartz. The foam obtained has they can entail a further purification of the quartz granules
been removed mechanically and weighed as concentrate 3. A [28].
dosage about 300 g/ton of DDA was used. The obtained re- In association with the quartz, other mineral phases such as
sidual product was high grade quartz. feldspars, mica, carbonates, sulfates or Fe oxides and hydrox-
Contact angle measurement tests were carried out on the ides are found. All these mineral phases represent “impurities”
surface of mica, hematite, feldspar and quartz at different pulp of the rock that will have to be removed during the quartz
pH conditions. purification step.
Z-potential in the third stage was established for comparing Thus, some areas of the sandstone are relatively rich in
the rate of hydrophobicity between feldspar and quartz using feldspar most of them having an advanced degree of alteration
HF. the feldspar is sericitized to sericite (secondary muscovite) and
At the end of each test the results of flotation were evalu- kaolinitized to kaolinite (clay minerals), etc.., but fresh crys-
ated on the impurities recovery rate of the obtained concen- tals can also be found (Fig. 3e). The multiple-twinned “grid-
trates after enrichment i.e. hematite, mica and feldspar. The iron or cross hatch twinning” crystals of microcline
Silicon (2022) 14:87–97 91

Fig. 3 Mineralogical composition of sandstones from Draissa Deposits: a alterated in clay minerals. Some crystals can easily reach sizes of 0.5-1 mm;
– Development of quartz cement with different granulometrys; b – Image f – Alkalin feldspar (microcline) impurity in quartz.; g – Microfissures in
in cathodoluminiscence marking overgrowth zones without luminescence quartz marked by secondary crystallization of carbonate (red); h – Clay
(black) in quartz; c – Quartz with granophyric structure (GrStr); d – matrix associated with Fe oxides. TL – transmised light image; CL –
Development of intergranular cement; e – Feldspar granoclasts (AltFed) cathodolumenescence image

(KAlSi3O8) are recognized (Fig. 3f). Most of the feldspar Quartzite veins are rich in Fe oxides and hydroxides associ-
crystals or clay material seems to be associated with areas ated with Cu sulfides, such as chalcocite (Cu2S) and chalcopy-
where the quartz has low grain sizes. rite (CuFeS2). The oxidation of these Cu sulfides causes the
Microscopic investigations also reveal the presence of sec- formation of some green crust of malachite (Cu2CO3 (OH) 2).
ondary muscovite crystals (KAl2(AlSi3O10)(OH,F)2) with Quantitative analysis regarding the chemical analysis com-
sizes in the range 10 μm - 1000 μm, mostly between 50 μm position of the samples from the Draissa deposits is obtained
−100 μm. Significant quantities of carbonate may also be using X-Ray Fluorescence (Table 1). The average content of
present as impurities in the rock. Raman analyses and SiO2 raw material is around 93.6% SiO2. The composition is
cathodoluminescence (CL) investigations confirm the pres- completed by the presence of Al2O3, CaO and Fe2O3 oxides in
ence of calcite (CaCO3) and dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that de- notable quantities. Feldspars and muscovite are the main
velop as secondary minerals in cavities or cracks (Fig. 3g). hosts of Al3+ while calcite is the main mineral responsible
The intense red color of the carbonates in the CL confirms the for the presence of calcium. Muscovite crystals may also
presence of Mn as trace element in the carbonate structure. contain trace elements. The Fe oxides (mainly hematite)
When the degree of compaction of the rock is less important, contain the majority of the iron present in the rock, but
the presence of a matrix consisting of clay material and car- few trace quantities can go in the structure of other minerals
bonates in association with Fe oxides and a fine quartz fraction (quartz, carbonates, etc).
is noted (Fig. 3h). In addition, some quantities of barite are XRF analyses also reveal significant amounts of chlorine
detected using Raman spectroscopy (Fig. 4). Barite (BaSO4) (Cl). Aqueous fluid inclusions are strongly present in the
is present as granoclasts with average size around several hun- quartz. They can contain important amounts of salts that can
dred microns. be responsible for the presence of Cl−, Ca2+, Mg2+, K+, etc.
The iron oxides such as hematite (Fe2O3) developed predom- It has been observed that Draissa quartz is mostly associat-
inantly in fracture areas due to the circulation of hydrothermal ed with deep feldspar and other minerals such as mica, hema-
fluids. tite, dolomite, barite and iron oxides.
92 Silicon (2022) 14:87–97

Fig. 4 Raman spectra of some mineral impurities in Draissa quartz

SIMS profile measurements are obtained in the 150 × 150 After the comminution, some fine clay minerals are re-
μm2 analysis area (Fig. 5). The highlighted elements are O, Si, moved by desliming. The flow-sheet of the used process is
Al, Cl and S. represented in Fig. 6.
Each element curve represents an accumulated intensity
(total) obtained from approximately 100 nm depth inside the 3.2.2 Mica Removal
sample after sputtering time for 300 s using oxygen and cesi-
um sources of energy respectively. The total intensities (TI) As collector reagent the duodecyclamine (DDA) is used for
for each element using oxygen source are: O (TI: 22. 4 × 102), the first stage. This reagent is well known for its very high
Si (TI: 10.01 × 102), Al (TI: 1.25 × 102) (Fig. 5 a). For the absorption capacity on the surface of the ore thanks to the
quartz samples the values using Cesium source are: Si hydrogen bands formed from its polar groups [29–31]. The
(TI:15.64 × 102), Cl (TI: 0.2 × 102), S (TI: 1.41 × 102) (Fig. 5 DDA reagent selectively makes the mica surface grains hy-
b). The presence of deep elements such as oxygen (O), silicon drophobic and thus confers a greater affinity for the gas phase
(Si), aluminum (Al), as well as sulfur (S) and chlorine (Cl) at than to the liquid phase. In order to study a degree of hydro-
the extreme surface is registered, which completes and con- philicity of the whole of the gangue, the contact measuring
firms the results of the XRF analysis. angle between the liquid and solid phases is carried out.
According to the Fig. 7, the mica surface is extremely hydro-
3.2 Quartz Valorization by Reverse Flotation Process philic (contact measurement angle around 0°), where the feld-
spar, quartz and iron have respectively the value 14° and 10°
3.2.1 Comminution and 6° (Fig. 7a).
After adding DDA collector in the first stage, it is noted that
Based on mineralogical and chemical studies of the Draissa at pH between 2 and 3 that the contact angle for the mica
samples, reverse flotation on laboratory scale is used as an achieves the optimum rate 95%, where the contact angles
adequate, dynamic multiphase and high efficiency selective value of feldspar, quartz, and iron are very low, 25°, 14° and
process in order to remove the main impurities from siliceous 6° respectively (Fig. 7 b). These results indicate that the mica
gangue required as raw material for silicon and optical surface becomes strongly hydrophobic (> 90°) and the rest of
domains. the gangue still mostly indicates hydrophilic interaction as a
The feed containing mainly siliceous gangue (93–94% contact angle is less than 90°. We remark that the feldspar and
quartz) associated to different other minerals (impurities) such the quartz values are little bit increased. It means that no sig-
as feldspar, mica and hematite carried out a comminution in nificant quantity of these minerals can be entrained with mica
order to achieve the required grain size of valuable mineral, as concentrate. Consequently, the reagent allows the mica
given that the average size of quartz crystal does not exceed separation from the rest of the gangue, after which it will be
0.1 mm. After, the ground mineral undergo the flotation carried away by the oxygen bubbles introduced than into the
process. flotation cell towards the surface and by the frother agent as a

Table 1 X-ray fluorescence

analysis of raw material from Compound SiO2 Al2O3 SO3 Cl CaO Fe2O3 CdO K2O SnO2
Draissa Deposits
Average content, [%] 93.637 5,74 0.028 0.171 0.15 0.16 0.001 0.07 0.006
Silicon (2022) 14:87–97 93

Fig. 5 SIMS profile of Draissa

quartz samples using Oxygen and
Cesium sources

concentrate. A pine oil as frother agent was added in order to DDA concentration at pH 2–3 is shown in Fig. 8. It is noted
maintain the life of the froth. After the flotation the concentra- that, at this value of pH, reagent exhibits good collecting ability
tion is analyzed in terms of minerals recoveries. The removal for mica and the recovery is well above 98% when its concen-
efficiency of mica and the rest of the gangue as a function of tration is around 300 g/t, while the recovery of the gangue

Fig. 6 Quartz reverse flotation

Siliceous feed 300mm
Flow-sheet of Draissa deposit
SiO2 93-94¨%

Crushing and grinding

100 µm

Clay minerals < 20 µm

Desliming

DDA+H2SO4 Mica concentrate C1

1st stage flotation

Tailings 1

Deionized water Dewatering and Washing

Iron minerals (Hematite,

NaOL+pine oil
2nd stage ilmenite) concentrate C2
flotation

Tailings 2
DDA+HF+pine oil
3rd stage Feldspar concentrate C3
flotation

Tailings 3

High purity silica 99.65% SiO2

94 Silicon (2022) 14:87–97

Fig. 7 Contact measurement as function of pH before and after adding DDA collector. a) Before adding DDA, b) After adding DDA

decreases rapidly. These results are in good agreement with the After the flotation, the results show that a major quantity of
literature. [32]. oxide minerals, mainly hematite was removed (Fig. 9). This
The tailings of mica flotation were dewatered and washed can be explained by the conversion of Fe2+ ions to Fe3+ ones
in order to remove the residual reagents on particles, which through the surface dissolution which results in the formation
will be used for the following stage. of more insoluble ferric oleate in comparison with ferrous
oleate compound, which reduces the zeta potential of hematite
and consequently increases the chemical adsorption of oleate
3.2.3 Iron Oxides Minerals Removal ions significantly.
However, during the iron minerals flotation, the reagent
The standard iron minerals removing method which is mostly NaOL absorbs ions on silicate surfaces which are charged
used in minerals processing is the reverse flotation using an- positively due to the presence of residual amine collector from
ionic collectors, such as fatty acid and petroleum sulfonate mica flotation. This is mainly due to hydrocarbon tail–tail
[33, 34]. In our case the sodium oleate (NaOL) at 98% as interactions, thus increasing their hydrophobicity, which can
anionic collector is chosen for its high selectivity of iron min- generate the feldspar and the quartz losses with iron oxide
erals compared to the rest of minerals gangue [35], where minerals concentrate. These results were also confirmed by
H2SO4 is used as activator and pH modifier, pine oil as a the studies of [29, 36] In our case these losses are negligible
frothing agent. The collector dosage is changed from 100 to around 1.75% for feldspar and 1.1% for quartz respectively.
300 g/t.

Fig. 8 Mica removal efficiency in the first flotation stage at pH = 2–3 Fig. 9 Fe-oxides removal efficiency
Silicon (2022) 14:87–97 95

3.2.4 Feldspar Removal

Because of the difficulty to separate the feldspar from the

quartz, mainly due to overlapping their densities, several stud-
ies have been done to solve this problem. Although the HF
poses challenges in terms of health, safety, and environment, it
still plays a determinant role during the quartz separation from
feldspar. In this case, the HF is used instead of H2O4 for its
high efficiency to obtain a very high grade product.
Feldspar is activated using fluoride ions and floated using
an amine acetate collector DDA and the pine oil as frother. In
this context, F− ions activate feldspar from tailings by increas-
ing their surface charge. The activator increases its own sur-
face potential to prevent the production of hydrophiles, and
also removed them from the concentrate. The obtained resid-
ual product represents high grade quartz.
During the flotation process, feldspar attaches to the bub-
bles due to its hydrophobic characteristics thanks to the HF
effect which is used as an activator for feldspar and depressor Fig. 11 Feldspar and quartz removal efficiency
for the quartz. The bubbles separate the feldspar from the
quartz by carrying the grains to the upper part of the cell. The results of the investigations show that the removal effi-
The HF in the role of depressor transforms strongly the quartz ciency of feldspar in the concentrate 3 achieves an optimum rate
surface particles in hydrophilic ones. (HF) as activator creates of 99.8 wt% (Fig. 11). It means that the selectivity of feldspar
a large difference in the mineral’s zeta potentials. Thus, the flotation reaches the maximum. Consequently, quasi no quartz
zeta potential of feldspar becomes very negative while that of till to 0.01 wt% is detected in the feldspar concentrate. This is
quartz approaches zero (Fig. 10). mainly due to the pretreated feldspar by HF in increasing its
At pH around 2.5, it is noted that the floatability of feldspar floatability compared to quartz, which is in agreement with the
significantly increases compared with that of the quartz literature [37–39]. However, around 3 wt% of SiO2 is lost
(Fig. 11). This is due trough the increasing of electrostatic which represents a permissible tolerance [39].
adsorption of the collector DDA on the feldspar surface which The final quartz concentration after flotation process char-
is already strongly negatively charged. Thus, effectively in- acterized by XRF reaches 99.65 wt%, which is available to be
creased its hydrophobicity and makes the feldspars easily used as raw material for silicon production and also for some
floatable. This observation was also confirmed by [37, 38]. optical applications (Table 2).
After, the quartz particles are moved towards of the bottom of
the flotation cell. At the end of the process, the quartz is rins-
ing by hydrochloric acid (HCl), filtered from the solution with
deionized water, and dried. 4 Conclusion

The study of silica raw material from the Draissa Deposits

(Algeria) reveals the presence of sandstones with high content
of quartz. The X-ray fluorescence analyses highlight an initial
SiO2 concentration of 93.6 wt%, which is associated with
other mineral phases (feldspar, mica, carbonates, sulfates
and Fe oxides). The mineral impurities must be eliminated
during the quartz purification process.
In order to increase the required concentration of the quartz
(99% SiO2) for silicon production and some optical applications,
the reverse flotation process in three stages has been used.
The effect of used reagents and the pH of pulp on the silica
recovery and its concentration are obtained and discussed.
The flotation results show that the separation of mica from
the rest of the gangue is feasible by using dodecylamine
Fig. 10 Quartz and feldspar Z-potential vs pH (DDA) as collector.
96 Silicon (2022) 14:87–97

Table 2 X-ray fluorescence

analysis of silica after flotation Compound SiO2 Al2O3 SO3 Cl CaO Fe2O3 CdO K2O SnO2

Average content, [%] 99.65 0.058 0.15 0.09 0.015 0.005 0.001 0.008 0.013

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Mr Ahmed Belhocine to allow us the collection of the samples from the acids. J Miner Eng 19:582–597. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mineng.
area of interest. We would like to thank also Dr. Ould Hamou Malek for 2005.09.010
its precious help in the flotation process at Mining Engineering 12. Veglio F, Passariello B, Barbaro M, Plescia P, Marabini AM (1997)
Department of the National Polytechnic School of Algiers. Raman Drum leaching tests in iron removal from quartz using oxalic and
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The Raman facility in Lyon is supported by the “Institut de Science de 1016/S0301-7516(98)00014-3
l’Univers (INSU)”. We are also grateful to Gilles Montagnac for
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of aluminium, titanium and iron concentrations in silica sand and
Center from Bucharest. We thank Izabela Mares for his help. We are
allied materials. Chem Cent J 1. https://doi.org/10.1186/1752-
grateful to Barbara Mattison for help with the English editing.
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Funding Funding was provided by the General Direction of research and for high-purity silica sands production by oxalic leaching. Ind Eng
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Sciences DGRSDT/MERS (ALGERIA).
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