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Impact Factor:6.707

DOI number:10.1016/j.apsusc.2019.05.039

Journal:Applied Surface Science

Key Words:Cassiterite; Quartz; Flotation; Cupferron; Pb2+ ion

Abstract:Since the excessive dosage of Pb2+ ions could facilitate the gangue mineral quartz activation and cause serious
environmental problems, this work has an attempt to examine the performance of cupferron as a new alternative
collector in selective separation of cassiterite from quartz with low dose of Pb2+ ions. Microflotation results
show the improved selectivity of cupferron towards cassiterite as compared to quartz. Accordingly, its selective
adsorption mechanism has been investigated by zeta potential measurements, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy
(XPS) analysis and first-principle density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The results of zeta potential
measurements demonstrate the stronger adsorption of cupferron on cassiterite surface than quartz whether Pb2+
ion was added or not. The XPS analysis and first-principle DFT calculations consistently show that Sn4+ ions on
the hydrated cassiterite surface exhibit much stronger reactivity towards cupferron adsorption than Si atoms on
the hydrated quartz surface, resulting in a remarkable difference between the collecting ability of cupferron
towards cassiterite and quartz. This work should shed new light on the discovery of cleaner flotation reagents for
cassiterite beneficiation.

First Author:Mengjie Tian

Indexed by:Journal paper

Discipline:Engineering

First-Level Discipline:Mining Industrial Engineering

Document Type:J

Volume:486

Page Number:228-238

Translation or Not:yes

Date of Publication:2019-08-30

Included Journals:SCI

Links to published journals:https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169433219313455#f0040

Date of Publication:2019-08-30