What are the advantages and disadvantages of the utilisation of treated domestic wastewater in the mineral processing and especially in the phosphate flotation?
Mineral proceeding / methodology for the application of domestic waste water treatment depend upon the type minerals and their enrichment.
With the phosphates from Bayovar-Peru, I performed flotation tests with seawater contaminated with domestic waste (discharge of Rimac-Callao-Lima river) and the results were the same, we had no problems.
Should pose few problems, but watch out for "emerging contaminants." These are the things that they don't treat for (yet), but might be in the water in significant amounts. The question is what is the treatment standard in the jurisdiction where the water will come from. And will there be a different standard for industrial discharge that might leave you on the hook for something that the water treatment plant does not have to worry about in their discharge.
1. The critical issue is the "grade" of the waste water and treatment of the water prior to use in the beneficiation. I never see phosphate beneficiation plant which is working just with domestic waste water. Usualy, some real significant sourse for process water is in use for this plant and the domestic water is in small proportion, thus its influence cannot be significant.
2. I have some expierence with disharge of domestic waste water without treatment to tails disposal lake of magnetite bene plant. The water recycle was through the lake. The domestic water resulted in intensive growing of molluscs in all plant water pipes. Only stop of the waste water disharge returned the plant to normal processing.
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