Abstract
In this study, ammonium ion was used to enhance the sulfidation flotation of malachite. The effect of ammonium ion on the sulfidation flotation of malachite was investigated using microflotation test, inductively coupled plasma (ICP) analysis, zeta potential measurements, and scanning electron microscope analysis (SEM). The results of microflotation test show that the addition of sodium sulfide and ammonium sulfate resulted in better sulfidation than the addition of sodium sulfide alone. The results of ICP analysis indicate that the dissolution of enhanced sulfurized malachite surface is significantly decreased. Zeta potential measurements indicate that a smaller isoelectric point value and a large number of copper-sulfide films formed on the malachite surface by enhancing sulfidation resulted in a large amount of sodium butyl xanthate absorbed onto the enhanced sulfurized malachite surface. EDS semi-quantitative analysis and XPS analysis show that malachite was easily sulfurized by sodium sulfide with ammonium ion. These results show that the addition of ammonium ion plays a significant role in the sulfidation of malachite and results in improved flotation performance.
Highlights
Copper is the most prevalent and valuable metals used in the industry
Prior to the addition of the sulfidizing agent, the addition of the inorganic ammonium salt to the slurry solution can enhance the activation of HS− ions and eliminate or reduce the adverse effects of residual HS− ions. This can reduce the amount of sodium sulfide and make the sulfide film more compact and stable, which is conducive to improving the recovery and grade of copper oxide ore
The results show that the addition of ammonium sulfate played a significant role in the sulfidation of malachite, and this sulfidation could facilitate its flotation and improve flotation performance
Summary
Copper is the most prevalent and valuable metals used in the industry. Owing to its high conductivity, copper is used mostly in the electrical and electronics industries[1,2,3,4]. Direct flotation of copper oxide ores has been extensively studied They selected fatty acids, fatty amines, petroleum sulfonates, and hydroxamic as flotation collectors for the direct recovery of copper oxide minerals without sulfidation treatments[6,7,8,9,10,11]. Eliminating the excess harmful effects of sulfidation reagents and enhancing the sulfidation of the surface malachite are crucial to the sulfidation xanthate flotation of copper oxide ore. The addition of ammonium sulfate greatly accelerated the speed of malachite sulfidation reaction and promoted the reaction, avoiding the inhibition of excess sulfur Ions; (2) stability effect. Ammonium sulfate improves the adsorption rate and adsorption quantity of xanthate on the malachite surface, making the malachite more hydrophobic They confirmed that ammonium ion can promote the sulfidation flotation of malachite based on flotation experiments. The mechanism of ammonium ions on sulfide flotation of malachite was studied
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