Abstract
Barite has numerous applications including barium mud for oil well drilling, manufacture of elemental barium, filler for paper and rubber industries, and contrast material for X-ray radiology for the digestive system. Currently, froth flotation is the main method for the beneficiation of barite using fatty acid as a typical collector. In this research, it was found that lauryl phosphate is also a promising collector for barite flotation. Results from microflotation, contact angle, and zeta potential indicate that lauryl phosphate is adsorbed on the barite surface and thus achieves superior flotation efficiency at a wide pH range. The interfacial water structure and wetting characteristics of barite surface with/without lauryl phosphate adsorption were also evaluated by molecular dynamics simulations (MDS). The results from molecular dynamics simulations and interaction energy calculations are in accord with the experimental results, which suggest that lauryl phosphate might be a potential collector for the flotation of barite.
Highlights
Barite is a salt-type mineral with a chemical composition of BaSO4, which is crucial in many industries, such as petroleum, weighting material for drilling mud in natural gas operations, barium chemical productions [1], and functional barite materials [2,3]
Barite from a mineral collection shop was used for the contact angle, zeta potential, and flotation experiments
Reason, the the wetting wetting characteristics, characteristics, lauryl phosphate adsorption phenomena, and flotation response in barite flotation with lauryl phosphate were examined by contact angle and zeta potential measurements, microflotation, microflotation, and and molecular molecular dynamics dynamics simulations
Summary
Barite is a salt-type mineral with a chemical composition of BaSO4 , which is crucial in many industries, such as petroleum, weighting material for drilling mud in natural gas operations, barium chemical productions [1], and functional barite materials [2,3]. Sodium oleate and pine oil are typically used as collector and frother in barite flotation at pH 10 [5,6]. Oleate is sensitive to slimes [7], low temperatures [8,9], and hard-water ions [10]. In this regard, many other collectors have been explored in barite flotation. Barite is either prefloated with cetyl stearyl sodium sulfate or depressed in apatite flotation using fatty acids at pH 12 [11]. Barite is a typical invaluable mineral from flotation of Mountain Pass bastnaesite [12]. The price of Minerals 2020, 10, 280; doi:10.3390/min10030280 www.mdpi.com/journal/minerals
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