Enrichment of Eskisehir Beylikova Bastnaesite Ore by Centrifugal Separators

Date

2025-9-01

Author

Döğme, Ayşe Nur

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Rare earth elements (REEs) are critical minerals due to their essential roles in green energy, defense, and advanced technology sectors. Given China’s dominance in global supply, Türkiye’s Eskişehir-Beylikova deposit, the world’s second-largest REE reserve after Bayan Obo, holds significant geopolitical importance. This study investigated the physical enrichment of bastnaesite, rich in light REEs, from the Beylikova complex ore. For this purpose, centrifugal separators were compared: a 50 mm laboratory hydrocyclone, a 10 mm micro-cyclone prototype adapted from the food sector and employed here for the first time, and a Falcon concentrator. The ore was crushed below 850 μm and classified into -150+20 μm and -20 μm fractions. Then, attrition scrubbing and grinding were applied to the coarser fraction (+150 μm), followed by re-fractionation. Chemical analyses indicated that the run-of-mine ore contained 4.44% TREE, increasing to 10.65% in the -20 μm fraction obtained after crushing and to 14.47% in the Cyclosizer analysis. It was upgraded to 20.88% with the 50 mm hydrocyclone. Tests with the 10 mm micro-cyclone at 3.1 bar and 20% solids achieved TREE grade of 27.80% and 40% recovery. At 6.2 bar and the same solids content, the grade and recovery were 20.46% and 42%, respectively. Reprocessing the 6.2 bar overflow under cleaner-stage conditions at 10% solids improved the TREE grade to 40.05%, with 75% stage recovery and 32% overall recovery. Falcon concentrator tests achieved a TREE grade of 16.26% and 35% recovery. These results demonstrate that fine particle classification and multi-stage separation using a 10 mm Cyclonette can significantly enhance REE beneficiation from Beylikova ore.

Subject Keywords

Physical Enrichment, Centrifugal Separators, Rare Earth Elements, Beylikova Complex Ore, Hydrocyclones

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/116067

Collections

Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis