Abstract
Micaceous minerals, known as layer silicates, are counted mostly as the gangue minerals associated with valuable minerals, especially iron oxides. They mainly reject through the reverse flotation process using the cationic collectors, e.g., ether amines, to improve process sustainability. Although ether amines have been applied for floating the wide range of silicates, few investigations explored their adsorption behaviors on the micaceous minerals. In this study, flotation of phlogopite, biotite, and quartz (for comparison purposes) in the presence of Flotigam®EDA (EDA) (commercial ether monoamine collector), at pH 10 was investigated through the single mineral micro–flotation experiments. Adsorption behaviors were explored by the contact angle, residual surface tension measurements, and zeta potential analyses. Micro–flotation outcomes indicated that the quartz floatability was more than phlogopite and biotite. In the presence of 30 mg/dm3 EDA, their recoveries were 97.1, 46.3, and 63.8%, respectively. Increasing EDA concentration made a substantial increase in micaceous minerals’ floatability. Adsorption assessments confirmed that increasing the EDA concentration resulted in higher adsorption of EDA onto the surface of micaceous minerals than the quartz (all by physical adsorption). Such a behavior could be related to the nature of micaceous minerals, including their layer structure and low hardness.
Highlights
Mineral flotation separation, as a physicochemical process, is a well–known technique for the purification of target minerals which become finely liberated [1,2].Currently, froth flotation is globally considered for processing various finely disseminated minerals
In order to understand the effect of Flotigam® EDA, ether monoamine collector, on the cationic flotation of biotite, phlogopite, and quartz, single mineral micro–flotation tests along with surface analyses were employed
Micro–flotation results indicated that in various EDA concentrations, the floatability of quartz was significantly higher than phlogopite and biotite
Summary
As a physicochemical process, is a well–known technique for the purification of target minerals which become finely liberated (mainly +25–100 micron) [1,2]. The reverse cationic flotation is recognized as the most efficient separation process for floating silicates and removing them from valuable minerals such as titan and iron oxides [12,16,20,21,24,25,26,27,28,29] In this process, collectors play an essential role in achieving the maximum flotation selectivity. This study is going to fill this gap and explore the ether monoamine adsorption behaviors onto the biotite and phlogopite surfaces in alkaline conditions and compare it with quartz to enhance the flotation separation sustainability. The contact angle, residual surface tension, and zeta potential measurements were used to understand the surface interactions in the presence of Flotigam® EDA
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