New Tailings-Reducing Collector: A Green Upgrade Path for Phosphate Ore Beneficiation

      As phosphate resources tighten and environmental requirements become ever more stringent, phosphate concentrators face a major challenge: how to develop and utilize phosphate ore efficiently and in an environmentally friendly manner, lower tailings grade, and raise phosphorus recovery. After years of testing and optimization, Wuhan Qiangsheng Technology Co., Ltd. has introduced a new tailings‑reducing collector that can further lower tailings P2O5 grade under existing process conditions, offering concentrators a cost‑controllable and easy‑to‑operate improvement path.

I. Pain Points in Phosphate Ore Beneficiation

 Declining run‑of‑mine quality: With continued exploitation of phosphate resources, head grade keeps falling and impurity content rises, increasing beneficiation difficulty.

High tailings‑handling costs: Traditional processes often yield tailings with relatively high P2O5 grade. This not only wastes phosphorus resources but also drives up the capital and O&M costs of tailings storage facilities, imposing a heavy economic burden.

Environmental pressure: High‑grade tailings can contain large amounts of harmful impurities and residual reagents that pollute soil and water, exposing companies to strict environmental scrutiny and penalties.

Rising production costs: Affected by ore quality, tailings treatment, and environmental inputs, overall beneficiation costs continue to climb, squeezing margins and weakening competitiveness.

II. Efficacy of the Tailings‑Reducing Collector

Strong collecting performance: The collector shows high selectivity for gangue minerals in phosphate ore, efficiently separating them from complex pulps, thereby raising concentrate grade while lowering P2O5 in tailings.

Low reagent consumption: Compared with conventional collectors, it requires a smaller dosage yet delivers better separation performance, effectively cutting reagent costs.

High phosphorus recovery: With this collector, overall phosphorus recovery can increase by about 1%–3%, meaning more saleable concentrate from the same amount of ore.

Superior tailings index: Tailings P2O5 grade can be reduced from around 4% to below 3%—even lower in some cases—facilitating subsequent reuse of tailings (e.g., in construction materials or land reclamation) and unlocking additional value.

Environmental benefits: By reducing harmful constituents in tailings, the collector lowers environmental risks, helps meet regulatory expectations, and supports the image of a green mine.

III. Success Case

At a concentrator in Hubei Province, the head grade of P2O5 was 22.5%–24% with MgO around 4.5%. The plant had long faced high reagent consumption, elevated tailings grade, and stubbornly high production costs. After adopting Wuhan Qiangsheng Technology’s new tailings‑reducing collector, all key metrics improved• Reagent consumption: decreased from 1.2–1.3 kg per tonne of ROM to below 1.0 kg/t—a reduction of over 20%, substantially cutting reagent costs. 

Concentrate quality: P2O5 stabilized at 29.5%–30.5% with MgO below 0.9%, boosting product quality and market competitiveness.

Tailings grade: P2O5 fell to below 3.5%, with some batches even under 3.0%, greatly reducing tailings‑handling costs.

Phosphorus recovery: improved by about 1%–2%, translating into several thousand extra tonnes of recovered phosphorus annually and markedly better economics.

IV. Work with Us for Shared Success

Wuhan Qiangsheng Technology’s new tailings‑reducing collector is a powerful tool for phosphate concentrators seeking cost reduction, efficiency gains, and green transformation. We recognize that every partner’s success fuels our own progress. Accordingly, alongside quality products we provide comprehensive technical support and services:

Customized solutions: Tailor‑made beneficiation schemes based on ore characteristics, flowsheets, and production requirements, ensuring the collector performs at its best.

Professional technical team: A team of seasoned beneficiation engineers and reagent specialists provides end‑to‑end guidance—from reagent addition and process tuning to index optimization—to solve technical issues encountered during production.

Continuous R&D and innovation: Tracking advances at the frontier of phosphate beneficiation, we steadily increase R&D investment to improve product performance and deliver more efficient, greener, and more economical reagents and technical solutions.

Choosing Wuhan Qiangsheng Technology’s tailings‑reducing collector is choosing an efficient, environmentally friendly, and economical future for phosphate beneficiation. Let’s work together to achieve a win‑win of economic and ecological benefits in phosphate resource development, and to shape a greener, more prosperous future for the industry.