Flotation studies of fluorite and barite with sodium petroleum sulfonate and sodium hexametaphosphate

Abstract

The development of new collectors to separate fluorite from barite is urgently needed in mineral processing. In this study, the flotation behavior of fluorite and barite was studied using sodium petroleum sulfonate (SPS) as a collector with sodium hexametaphosphate (SHMP) as a depressant. The performance of reagents on minerals was interpreted by infrared spectroscopic analysis and zeta potential measurement. The flotation results showed that SPS performed well in a wide pH region (7–11) even at a low temperature (5°C), while the flotability of fluorite and barite were almost the same. At pH 11, the presence of SHMP obviously depressed fluorite rather than barite and SHMP exhibited good selective inhibition to fluorite. Fourier-transform infrared spectra and zeta potential results showed that: (1) SPS can adsorb on fluorite and barite surfaces and (2) SHMP had little effect on the adsorption of SPS on a barite surface, although it interfered with the adsorption of SPS on a fluorite surface through strong adsorption.