Grinding Behaviour of Microwave-Irradiated Mining Waste

The combined microwave-assisted sorting and microwave-assisted comminution of minerals has been proposed to reduce the huge grinding energy consumption in mineral processing. However, gangue minerals would be discarded after the sorting process despite the microwave energy absorbed during their treatment. Therefore, this paper investigates the effect of microwave pretreatment on the Bond work index (BWI) of quartz and calcite samples, as they represent the dominant gangues in many ores and are key inputs in the cement industry, which requires intensive grinding. The samples were characterized using a scanning electron microscope coupled with energy dispersive X-ray (SEM-EDX), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) methods. The BWIs of the two samples were determined before and after the microwave treatment (2.45 GHz, 1.7 kW) at 2, 4 and 6 minutes. SEM image analyses of the untreated and microwave-treated samples were performed using ImageJ software. The results showed that after 4 minutes of radiation treatment, the BWI of the studied quartz was reduced by 13.83%, while that of the calcite increased by 15.59%. The results of the SEM image analysis indicated that the quartz developed more cracks than the calcite under the same microwave treatment conditions. Based on these findings, microwave pretreatment is suitable to reduce the grinding energy of the studied quartz, but offers no energy-saving benefit to the studied calcite.