Effect of Ammonium Sulfide on Sulfidization Flotation of Malachite

Abstract

Recently, several studies have shown the positive effect of sulfidization flotation on malachite surfaces and its enhancing methods. Therefore, this paper was focused on the effect of ammonium sulfide and sodium sulfide on the sulfidization of malachite, respectively; this was investigated using different devices such as the micro-flotation tests, Zeta potential measurements, ToF–SIMS, XPS analysis, and FTIR. Thus, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy results demonstrated that a new characteristic peak of Cu-S bonds was formed and adsorbed on malachite surfaces at 1694 cm−1, as confirmed by XPS analysis. Notably, malachite with ammonium sulfide ions had a significantly higher flotation recovery than malachite with an excess of sodium sulfide ions, as concerns of sulfidization types. Conclusively, all the experiments in this study confirmed that additional copper sulfide products were formed on the malachite surface, increasing the hydrophobicity of the malachite.