  The demand for lithium, as well as other critical resources, needed for
electrochemical energy storage is expected to grow significantly in the future.
Slags obtained from pyrometallurgical recycling represent a promising resource
of valuable materials, among them lithium and rare earth elements found in
artificial minerals particulate phases. This study investigates the flotation
separation of engineered artificial minerals (EnAMs) in slags, such as lithium
aluminate and gehlenite as valuable and gangue phases, respectively. Flotation
experiments are carried out in a Partridge-Smith cell using oleic acid (OA) as
a benchmark surfactant. Particle characterization is performed using SEM-based
Mineral Liberation Analysis (MLA), which provides particle discrete
information. From this information, bivariate Tromp functions based on
non-parametric kernel density estimation are computed to characterize the
separation behavior with respect to particle descriptors. This approach enables
investigating the influence of particle size and shape on separation behavior
of EnAMs. Furthermore, these results allow for the optimization of flotation
experiments for enriching Li-bearing EnAMs.
