Use of the extract of the flower of Musa sp., in the treatment from coagulation – Flocculation, of iron ore fines

Tannins condensed and hydrolyzable, extracted from the flower of Musa sp. was used in the process of reducing turbidity of effluents from the processing of iron ore. A great deal of attention has been given to coagulation and flocculation processes in the separation of the ore fines that remain adhered to silica after processing, aiming at the reuse of process water and the iron itself with percentages between 15 and 35%. The coagulation and flocculation tests were performed in a jar test, verifying the influence of the factors: pH, coagulant volume and frequency of agitation aiming at turbidity reduction. Response surface methodology was used to construct a model and verify the influence of the levels of each of the factors on the turbidity reduction. From the constructed model, it was possible to optimize the turbidity removal through the generalized reduced gradient algorithm (GRG) leading to an initial turbidity reduction of 86500 NTU in 97.58%.