A novel depressant HPAM of the hematite in reverse cationic flotation of iron ore

Abstract

Reverse cationic flotation is an important method for iron ore flotation. In this process, it is particularly important to find efficient, environmentally friendly and inexpensive hematite depressants. Hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM), an inexpensive and environmentally friendly synthetic polymer organic reagent, was studied for the first time in this field. In this paper, the separation effect of HPAM on hematite and quartz in ether amine system was evaluated by flotation tests of single minerals and artificial mixed ore. The hydrophilicity of the two minerals in different chemical environments was verified by contact angle measurement. The adsorption and depression mechanism of HPAM on the two minerals was studied by surface adsorption tests, zeta potential measurements, FT-IR analysis and XPS analysis. The flotation results showed that under the conditions of 100 mg/L HPAM and 7.5 mg/L EA at pH 11, the hematite recovery was 84.46%. The contact angle analysis showed that the addition of HPAM increased the hydrophilicity difference between hematite and quartz. Surface adsorption test results showed that the adsorption capacity of HPAM on hematite was much larger than that on quartz. Zeta potential measurements, FT-IR analysis and XPS analysis confirmed that HPAM was selectively adsorbed on the surface of hematite. The adsorption of HPAM on the surface of hematite mainly occurred through strengthening chemical adsorption and hydrogen bond adsorption.