Abstract
Two kinds of collectors, sodium butyl xanthate and kerosene, and a depressor, sodium sulfide, were used in this research. The study applied flotation tests, pulp potential measurements, contact angle measurements, adsorption calculations, and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses to demonstrate the correlation between reagents and minerals. For xanthate collectors, the best flotation responses of chalcopyrite and molybdenite were obtained at pH = 8, and, for kerosene, these were obtained at pH = 4. The flotation of molybdenite seemed to be less influenced by xanthate than by kerosene, while that of chalcopyrite showed the opposite. The optimum concentration of sodium sulfide for separation was 0.03 mol/L, which rejected 83% chalcopyrite and recovered 82% molybdenite in the single mineral flotation. Pulp potential measurements revealed that the dixanthogen and xanthate were decomposed and desorbed, respectively, from the mineral surface in a reducing environment. The contact angle measurement and adsorption calculation conformed to the flotation response, indicating that few functions of the xanthate and sodium sulfide on the molybdenite flotation were due to their low adsorption densities. The FTIR results further clarified that the xanthate ion was adsorbed on chalcopyrite by forming cuprous xanthate and dixanthogen; however, on molybdenite the adsorption product was only dixanthogen. After conditioning with sodium sulfide, the chalcopyrite surface became clean, but the molybdenite surface still retained slight peaks of dixanthogen. Meanwhile, the possible mechanism was expounded in this research.
Highlights
Molybdenite (MoS2 ), the main occurrence state of molybdenum resources, is generally associated with chalcopyrite (CuFeS2 ) [1,2]
For the measurements of sodium butyl xanthate (SBX) adsorbed on mineral surfaces without contact with sodium sulfide, 5 g each pure sample and 100 g/t SBX were filled with deionized water to keep the final volume at
The results suggest that xanthate effectively improves the flotation of molybdenite only in large particle sizes, which have a higher degree of inherent hydrophobic given by the large faces/edges ratio
Summary
Molybdenite (MoS2 ), the main occurrence state of molybdenum resources, is generally associated with chalcopyrite (CuFeS2 ) [1,2]. One can conclude that molybdenite must have different surface properties with other sulfide minerals [10]. The oxidant generally oxidizes the mineral surface and causes it to be hydrophilic These organic depressors are declared to be hydrophilic and cover the mineral surface to prevent the adsorption of collectors. These reagents have a universal depression to sulfide minerals, molybdenite and chalcopyrite can successfully be separated due to their different surface properties, which determine the sensitivities of minerals to the depressor. Two collectors, sodium butyl xanthate and kerosene, were tested to find their different behaviors in the flotation of molybdenite and chalcopyrite under various conditions. The surface properties before and after conditioning with reagents were analyzed by Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) measurements
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