Barite Introduction and Application2021-01-26

Barite is the most common barium-containing mineral, and its chemical composition is: BaO 65.7% and SO3 34.3%. The density is 4.5g/cm3 and the Mohs hardness is 2.5-3.5. Barite is chemically stable, insoluble in water, insoluble in hydrochloric acid, non-magnetic, non-toxic, and can absorb X-rays and Y-rays. When the water temperature reaches 100°C, the solubility of barite in water does not exceed 3.9mg/L. With its excellent performance, barite is widely used, and it is reported that its use has exceeded 2000 kinds.

1.1 Physical purification of barite

The main physical purification methods of barite include: hand selection, gravity separation, and magnetic separation.

Hand selection is a commonly used method in small mines. It is to distinguish barite and gangue by observing the luster, color, and density of the ore to select massive barite. The manual selection method is simple, convenient and easy to implement, has low equipment dependence and low cost, but has high requirements for ore and low production efficiency, which causes a great waste of resources.

Gravity selection is based on the density difference between barite and associated minerals. It can only process barite ore with larger particles, simple inlay, and low density of gangue minerals.

Magnetic separation is a method of making use of the magnetic difference between different ores and performing separation under the action of magnetic force. Magnetic separation is mainly used to remove some magnetic iron oxide minerals such as siderite, and is usually used in combination with gravity separation to reduce the iron content in the barite concentrate.

1.2 Chemical purification of barite

When the composition of barite ore is complex and the grain size of the embedded cloth is fine, and the physical purification method cannot solve it, chemical purification can be tried. Chemical purification includes flotation, calcination, leaching and so on.

1.2.1 Flotation purification

Flotation mainly uses the difference in physical and chemical properties of minerals to separate barite and associated minerals. Research on different types of barite flotation requires targeted research. At present, fluorite-barite type ore is the main form of barite. Barite and fluorite also have similar physical and chemical properties, and their close symbiosis makes it difficult to separate the two .

3.1 Application of barite

Because of its special physical and chemical properties, barite is used in oil, natural gas and other drilling industries. It can also be used as a raw material for the production of related chemical products, radiation protection building materials, and barium meals in the medical field.

(1) Drilling mud weighting agent

Barite powder is used as a circulating mud weighting agent in the rotary drilling of oil and gas wells in oil drilling. Its function is to cool the drill bit, take away the cut debris, lubricate the drill pipe, seal the hole wall, control the oil and gas pressure, and prevent the oil well from being spray.

(2) Various barium compounds

Barium oxide, barium carbonate, barium chloride, barium nitrate, precipitated barium sulfate, barium hydroxide and other chemical materials can be produced by using barite as raw material. These barium compounds are widely used in reagents, catalysts, sugar refining, textiles, fire protection, various fireworks, synthetic rubber coagulants, phosphors, grease additives, etc.

(3) Barite for filler industry

Barite is used as a filler in rubber, paint, and plastics to increase the hardness, wear resistance and strength of products.

(4) Barite used in other traditional fields

Barite is used as a concrete aggregate and paving material in construction. It can be used as a shield for nuclear facilities, nuclear power plants, X-ray laboratories, etc., instead of lead plates, to extend the life of road surfaces; barite and oil are blended and coated on cloth The base is used to make oil cloth; barite powder is used to refine kerosene; it is used as a contrast agent for the digestive tract in the pharmaceutical industry; it can also be used to make pesticides, leather and fireworks. In addition, barite is also used to extract metal barium, as a getter and binder for televisions and other vacuum tubes. Barium is alloyed with other metals (aluminum, magnesium, lead, calcium) and used in bearing manufacturing.

Barite for drilling industry is hot. Raymond mill is also the most popular to process barite powder in this Industry.