Abstract
At present, the research on flotation separation of cassiterite and gangue minerals is mainly focused on the development of new collectors or depressants, while the research on combined depressants is rare. In this study, the flotation separation of cassiterite and the typical gangue mineral, calcite, was investigated using the metal-inorganic complex depressant AlSS, composed of aluminum sulfate (Al2(SO4)3) and water glass (Na2SiO3·4H2O). The flotation results indicated that, with the assistance of Al3+, the inhibition effect of SS (water glass) on calcite is significantly enhanced, while the inhibition effect on cassiterite is almost unchanged. The zeta potential and adsorption measurements proved that the formation of the negatively charged colloidal particles composed of Alm(OH)n3m−n and SiOm(OH)n4−2m−n tended to adsorb on the positively charged calcite surface, inhibiting the adsorption of sodium oleate (NaOL), while the adsorption of the colloidal particles on the negatively charged cassiterite surface is relatively less. The contact angle measurements indicate that the contact angle of cassiterite in the NaOL + AlSS solution is obviously larger than that of calcite, which indicates that cassiterite has better floatability in this system. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis confirms the Al and Si species are adsorbed on the surface of calcite, but not on the cassiterite. In addition, the adsorption of AlSS on cassiterite and calcite changes the chemical environment on the calcite surface, indicating that the adsorption of AlSS on the mineral surface is more inclined to be through a chemical reaction.
Highlights
As one of the most important strategic metal resources, tin is widely used in the military, information and communication, mechanical materials, and other fields because of its excellent physical and chemical properties [1,2,3]
It is clear that the flotation separation of cassiterite from calcite is still very hard with the depressant SS alone since the flotation recovery of calcite is still very high
The flotation separation of cassiterite and calcite was investigated in this paper using the The collector and theofcomplex depressant and the underlying separation flotation separation cassiterite and calciteAlSS, was investigated in this paper using mechanism was revealed by several analysis methods
Summary
As one of the most important strategic metal resources, tin is widely used in the military, information and communication, mechanical materials, and other fields because of its excellent physical and chemical properties [1,2,3]. Qin et al confirmed that the chemical adsorption of salicylhydroxamic acid (SHA) on the cassiterite surface is the main reason for the superb flotation performance [18]. Found that the floatability of cassiterite with the new frother α-terpineol (AT) was nearly of 14 cassiterite surface is the main reason for the superb flotation performance [18]. Confirmed in the presence of Zn2+ and formed on the cassiterite surface and resulted in the increase of cassiterite flotation recov-on benzohydroxamic acid (BHA), a new type of chelate ring (-Sn-O-Zn-BHA) formed erythe [22]. Atrecovery present, rate theseofcombined are mainly used to of improve gangue components cassiterite ore, the effective inhibition has in the recovery in rate of cassiterite.
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