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911metallurgist.com/blog/flotation-fundamentals
The separation of one component from another by flotation depends on the relative water-
wetting ability of the surfaces of the various particle components. Many of the current
chemical collectors in use are heteropolar, that is, they contain both a polar charged group and
a non-polar uncharged group. When attached to a component surface, these surface active
collector molecules are oriented so that the charged end of the molecule is attached or
adsorbed to the component surface and the non-polar or hydrocarbon group is extended
outward, thereby imparting a hydrophobic film to the particle. Typically, the surface free energy
is lowered by the adsorption of heteropolar reagents so that the hydrophobic film can then act
as a bridge allowing the particle to attach to a gas bubble.
The basic principles of surface chemistry have been applied extensively to the understanding
of flotation phenomena. While some success has been achieved in fundamental studies, it
generally is not yet possible to quantitatively predict industrial scale flotation performance very
well from first principles. This problem is not surprising in light of the complex nature of
flotation, involving complex chemical adsorption conditions in the presence of complex mass
and momentum transfer conditions. Therefore, the practice of flotation is one that takes
advantage of the qualitative guidelines offered by surface chemical studies coupled with
actual flotation testing of reagents and other conditions in various sizes of flotation equipment
A brief review of some of the surface phenomena that have shown useful correlations with
flotation practice follows.
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The first phenomenon of Flotation Fundamentals is the measurement of contact angle, 0,
formed by an air bubble on a solid submerged in water. An air bubble, when put into contact
with a clean surface, may or may not adhere to the surface. If the air bubble does not displace
the aqueous phase on the parade surface, the contact angle is zero. Such would be the case
for a highly hydrophilic material. However, if an appropriate chemical is added, the mineral
acquires a hydrophobic film, or coating, and an air bubble may readily be attached. The
presence of the collector significantly increases the contact angle, indicating enhanced
particle-bubble contact. Typical materials demonstrating hydrophobicity will have contact
angles between 45 and 90 degrees.
The potential measured by moving a particle through a solution is the potential at the slipping
plane, denoted as zeta potential, The zeta potential is not the surface potential, but the
potential at some distance from the surface. The sign of the charge on the surface, as
measured by zeta potential, is very important, and the valence and concentration of potential-
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determining ions control the sign and magnitude of the surface potential. A point (or points) of
zero charge, called the isoelectric point, can be measured for each material component,
depending on conditions.
Measuring the contact angle. Place a drop of a liquid on a smooth surface of a solid.
According to the wettability of the liquid in relationship to this solid, the drop will make a
certain angle of contact with the solid. With reference to the figure 10, if the contact angle is
lower than 90°, the solid is called wettable, if the contact angle is wider than 90°, the solid is
named non-wettable. A contact angle equal to zero indicates complete wettability. To measure
the contact angle use a protractor and a ruler. Taking a picture of the outline of the drop will
make easier and more exact the measurement.
For example, for the material ceragyrite, AgCl, the potential-determining ions are Ag+ and Cl-.
The AgCl material is positively charged in solutions containing greater than 10E-4 mole Ag+*
per litre, requiring an anionic (negatively charged) collector. Conversely, the AgCl material is
negatively charged in solutions containing Cl- in excess of 2E-6 mole per litre, requiring a
cationic (positively charged) collector. The isoelectric point occurs at a pAg of 4.
For insoluble oxide materials, H+ and OH- are the potential-determining ions, so that the
surfaces of these materials are positively charged at pH values below the isoelectric point and
negatively charged at higher pH values. Polyvalent cations such as Al+3 and Fe+3 are also
known to alter the surface charge of a material in aqueous solutions. This alteration is
especially prevalent near the pH of Al+3 and Fe-3 ion precipitation in dilute solutions, causing
specific adsorption of the precipitates on the material surface.
In recent years electrochemical techniques have been used successfully to explain the
behaviour of sulfur-containing (thiol) collectors with sulphide minerals. This is a very important
class of minerals because sulphide minerals are the source of most of the worlds base and
precious metals. Briefly, experience has shown that in this particular type of flotation, the
transformation of the sulphide mineral surface to a more hydrophobic state involves
simultaneous electrochemical reactions in which the cathodic step, the reduction of oxygen, is
coupled with an anodic step involving the oxidation of the collector.
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It is becoming more evident that interfacial electrochemical potential is the governing factor in
sulfide mineral systems using thiol collectors. At reducing potentials, the sulfide minerals are
depressed, and with increasing oxidizing conditions, the same minerals are floated in the
presence of thiol collectors. The location at which each sulfide mineral type will start to float
as a function of electrochemical potential is relatively easy to determine in an idealized
laboratory test using pure minerals and well controlled water chemistry conditions In a plant
environment, this type of analysis is somewhat more difficult to predict, but nevertheless, the
general concepts are still valid.
The detailed understanding of the mechanisms involved in Flotation Fundamentals for the
attachment of collectors to various component materials, whether they be sulfide, oxide, or
something else in composition, is far from complete at this time. The term adsorption is
sometimes used to indicate a multitude of phenomena ranging from physical adsorption to
chemisorption to chelation, depending on the particular system under study. In many industrial
mixed-component systems, it is quite apparent that at least several simultaneous
mechanisms are occurring with a single given collector. Attachment by chemisorption is
generally desired because it leads to greater selectivity at lower dosage, hence at lower cost.
Physical adsorption of the collector may involve the weaker forces of van der Waals hydrogen
or hydrophobic bonding, with electrostatic attraction between an ionic collector and a mineral
of opposite charge being the most common mechanism.
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