AUTHOR=Zheng Qingzhu , Qian Yunlou , Zou Dan , Wang Zhen , Bai Yang , Dai Haidong 

TITLE=Surface Mechanism of Fe3+ Ions on the Improvement of Fine Monazite Flotation With Octyl Hydroxamate as the Collector

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Chemistry

VOLUME=Volume 9 - 2021

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/chemistry/articles/10.3389/fchem.2021.700347

DOI=10.3389/fchem.2021.700347

ISSN=2296-2646

ABSTRACT=Froth flotation of fine minerals has always been an important research direction in terms of theory and practice. In this paper, the effect and mechanism of Fe3+ on improving surface hydrophobicity and flotation of fine monazite using sodium octyl hydroxyamate (SOH) as a collector was investigated through a series of laboratory tests and detection measurements including micro flotation, fluorescence spectrum, zeta potential and X ray photoelectron spectrum (XPS).Flotation tests have shown that fine monazite particles (-26 + 15 μm) cannot be floated well with the SOH collector compared to the coarse fraction (-74 + 38 μm). However, adding a small amount of Fe3+ to the pulp before SOH can significantly improve the flotation of fine monazite. This is because the addition of Fe3+ promotes the adsorption of SOH and greatly improves the hydrophobicity of the monazite surface. This can result in the formation of a more uniform and dense hydrophobic adsorption layer, as shown by the fluorescence spectrum and zeta potential results. From the XPS results, Fe3+ reacts with surface O atoms on the surface of monazite to form a monazite-Osurf-Fe group that acts as a new additional active site for SOH adsorption. A schematic model was also proposed to explain the mechanism of Fe3+ for improving surface hydrophobicity and flotation of fine monazite using octyl hydroxamate as a collector. The innovative point of this study is using a simple reagent scheme to float fine mineral particles rather than traditional complex processes.