Sodium sulfosalicylate activation mechanism on sulfidation flotation of smithsonite using dodecylamine as a collector

Abstract

In this work, the sulfidation-dodecylamine flotation effects of smithsonite using sodium sulfosalicylate activation were investigated by micro-flotation, atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS), time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS), and fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR). The micro-flotation results showed that the sodium sulfosalicylate significantly promoted the sulfidation flotation of smithsonite using dodecylamine as a collector and increased the flotation recovery by around 26 %. The AFM analysis showed that the enhanced sulfurized smithsonite surface roughness Rq increased from 3.80 to 5.82, and the height of the hill-shaped materials on the smithsonite surface was greatly increased after enhanced sulfidation, reaching 41.4 nm. The SEM-EDS analysis revealed that the concentration of sulfur atoms on the sulfurized smithsonite surface enhanced by sodium sulfosalicylate was almost twice that of the direct sulfurized smithsonite surface. The ToF-SIMS analysis indicated that more ZnS was generated on the smithsonite surface and penetrated the smithsonite interior after enhanced sulfidation than after direct sulfidation. The results of FTIR indicated that the addition of sodium sulfosalicylate increased the adsorption of dodecylamine on the smithsonite surface after sulfidation by Na2S·9H2O. The mechanism by which sodium sulfosalicylate activated the smithsonite surface was proposed and verified. In this mechanism, the sulfosalicylic acid ion chelated with Zn2+ to form Zn(SSA)22+ complexes. These complexes react with S ions to form ZnS, which is adsorbed on the smithsonite surface, increasing the sulfide content on the mineral surface, and finally promoting the collection of dodecylamine.