Recovery of monazite from red sediments of badlands topography of south east coast of India and its characterization for industrial applications

Abstract

An attempt has been made in this paper to recover pure monazite, a source for thorium, from the red sediments badlands topography of Kalipalli village of Ganjam district of Odisha, India by developing an industrially viable process flow sheet from a feed sample containing monazite mineral 0.63 % by weight. Results have indicated that monazite purity of 98 % could be achieved with a recovery of 63 % by weight. Recovery of monazite can be enhanced if the spiral concentrate is further scrubbed in alkaline media prior to subjecting to mineral separation studies. In the present investigation an attempt is also made to compare the monazite occurring from red sediment sample with naturally occurring monazite from beach sands. It is found that in spite, their morphological and topographical characteristics are markedly different the monazite occurring from both sources, have chemical elemental similarity. It is also seen that the chemical states of rare earth (RE) elements in monazite of both sources are matching. Further, due to natural occurrence of finer particle size of monazite (< 150 micron) in red sediments sample, the material is found to be suitable for chemical treatment to recover easily the valuable rare earths from it. Hence, it is recommended for mining of red sediments for recovery of monazite from red sediments of badlands topography as an additional resource for beach sand monazite.