Effect of the turbulent flow pattern on the interaction between dodecylamine and quartz

Abstract

In this work, the effect of the turbulent flow pattern on the interaction between dodecylamine and quartz was studied using a stirred tank. The analysis of the adsorption amount and zeta potential shows that the axial flow field leads to a larger enhancement of the dodecylamine adsorption onto the quartz particles than the radial flow, and the microflotation tests verify that the fully developed turbulent flow improves the recovery rate of quartz particles during froth flotation. The results of the numerical simulation imply that the main interact between the quartz surface and the radial turbulent flow is strike and skim over quartz surface, while it is the skim over for the axial turbulent flow. The atomic force microscopy images show that the adsorption morphology of DDA on the surface of quartz chip is closely related to the turbulent flow pattern, and the interaction forces measurement results show that the minimum adhesion force of −70.97 nN is achieved in the quartz chip under the fully developed turbulent flow driven by the combination impeller. The aims of this paper were to elucidate the response mechanism of the turbulent flow field to the interaction between reagent and mineral in the conditioning process.