Synergistic adsorption mechanism of styryl phosphoric acid and nonyl alcohol on the rutile surface and effects on flotation

Abstract

ABSTRACTStyryl phosphoric acid (SPA) is considered to be one of the best selective collectors for rutile flotation. Yet high consumption and considerable environmental pressure have limited its wide applications. In this study, n-nonyl alcohol (NNA) was used as the auxiliary collector to reduce SPA dosage. The experimental results indicated that when SPA was used as the single collector, the rutile flotation presented an optimum index of recovery being 52.26% and the grade being about 45% with a SPA concentration of 0.4 × 10−4 mol L−1. But when 0.4 × 10−4 mol L−1 SPA and 0.4 × 10−4 mol L−1 NNA were used as the mixture collectors, the resulting recovery increases to 82%, and the grade reached 47%. The synergistic adsorption mechanism was investigated by foam properties measurements, zeta potential measurements and FT-IR analysis. NNA increased the foam amount and improved its stability, and quickly reduced the surface tension of the solutions. On the other hand, SPA was first adsorbed on the rutile surface, and then NNA chemically reacted with SPA in the form of hydrogen bond.