Investigations on a novel collector for anionic reverse flotation separation of quartz from iron ores

Abstract

It is necessary to exploit an easy and effective way to obtain flotation collector. In this paper, oleic acid was modified by oxidation reaction to obtain an excellent collector. The flotation performances of oleic acid and its oxidation products were systematically investigated and a novel collector ((E)-8,11-dihydroperoxyoctadec-9-enoic acid, EDEA) was obtained. Single mineral flotation tests results showed that EDEA had strong flotation power towards quartz at pH＞11 and hardly floated hematite and magnetite at pH=8~13. The recovery of quartz could achieve 92.35% with 120 mg/L EDEA under the condition of pH=12 and dosage of CaCl2 60mg/L while the recovery was 62.44% with 120 mg/L oleic acid. Bench scale flotation tests results showed that EDEA had a preferable effect on separating quartz from iron ore especially at low flotation temperature (288K). The mechanism research revealed that EDEA attracted on quartz surface through electrostatic attraction and the neighboring EDEA molecules could form intermolecular hydrogen bonds which resulted in a closer alignment of EDEA on quartz surface.