Investigation on flotation separation of bastnaesite from calcite with a novel collector: Octylamino-bis-(isobutanohydroxamic acid)

Abstract

Bastnaesite is an important mineral resource, usually associated with calcite and other minerals, flotation is one of the most widely used methods in the selection process. Collector is the key to achieve flotation separation of bastnaesite from gangue mineral. The effect of a new hydroxamic acid collector with two functional groups: Octylamino-bis-(isobutanohydroxamic acid) (OIBHA), on the flotation separation of bastnaesite from calcite was investigated. The Single mineral and artificial mixed ore flotation results revealed that OIBHA exhibited better collecting ability and selectivity compared with the conventional hydroxamic acid collector octanohydroxamic acid (OHA). Effective separation between bastnaesite and calcite can be realized. The concentrate with 68.82 % REO grade and 90.23 % REO recovery was obtained with 3 × 10−4 mol/L OIBHA. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) analysis, zeta potential measurements and quantum chemical calculations were used to investigate the selective adsorption mechanism of OIBHA. The results of FTIR analysis and zeta potential measurements showed that OIBHA was strongly adsorbed on the surface of bastnaesite, but did not interact with calcite. Quantum chemical calculations results indicated OIBHA matched well with bastnaesite surface, thereby improved the selectivity. The results in this paper are instructive for the study of the spatial matching properties of collectors and mineral surfaces.