Potential application of an eco-friendly amine oxide collector in flotation separation of quartz from hematite

Abstract

The development of eco-friendly collectors is an essential issue of much concern in mineral flotation processes. In this work, an eco-friendly amine oxide, N,N-Dimethyl aminopropyl dodecylamide oxide (LAO), was introduced as the collector in flotation separation of hematite and quartz. Compared with conventional amine collector dodecylamine (DDA), LAO with low toxicity has better flotation performance and superior selectivity in the natural slurry. With 10 mg/L LAO, the recovery of quartz and hematite is respectively 94.72% and 10.50%, while using the same dosage of DDA, the quartz recovery is only around 40% and the hematite recovery is 23%. The median effective inhibition concentration (EC50) of LAO for Daphnia magna is 328.44 mg/L, indicating LAO is a nontoxic compound to aquatic organisms. Therefore, LAO is a promising eco-friendly collector to apply in the separation of quartz from hematite.