A novel method for improving low-temperature flotation performance of nonpolar oil in the molybdenite flotation

Abstract

Nonpolar hydrocarbon oil (NHO) is one of the most extensively used collectors in the flotation of molybdenite due to its excellent selectivity. However, NHO has low sensibility at pulp temperature. At low temperatures (<283 K), although more kerosene is used, the recovery of molybdenite flotation is still lower than at room temperature. In this study, magnetizing treatment, which is an efficient, low-cost, innovative, and environmentally friendly emulsification method, was used to improve the flotation performance of NHO in low-temperature molybdenite flotation. The test results showed that, compared with unmagnetized kerosene (UMK), the optimum dosage of magnetized kerosene (MK) could be reduced by 11% at 298 K. At the same dosage of kerosene, the flotation recovery of MK was 3% higher than UMK at 278 K. The surface tension measurement results showed that the surface tension of MK rose periodically as the magnetic field intensity increased, and there was a maximum surface tension within each period. Further, the magnetic field intensity had the maximum flotation recovery of molybdenite at the maximum surface tension of MK. Combined with the analysis based on the Girifalco–Good theory and the static drop volume method of interfacial tension, the interfacial tension of kerosene–water was shown to decrease with the increase of the surface tension of kerosene. This finding indicates that the dispersibility of kerosene in pulp could be improved by reducing the size of oil droplets, thereby improving the molybdenite flotation recovery of kerosene at low-temperature pulp. It is helpful to improve the flotation recovery of molybdenite using NHO as a collector for low-temperature pulp (<283 K).