Separation of Oxidized Pyrrhotite from Fine Fraction Serpentine

Abstract

The valuable minerals in copper-nickel sulfide ore can easily be oxidized, leading to the reduction of their flotation recovery and a difficulty in separating them from gangue. In order to solve the problem, the reaction mechanism of the octanohydroxamic acid (OHA) on oxidized pyrrhotite was revealed through micro-flotation, adsorption tests, zeta potential measurements, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. The results show that this is a feasible way to find a suitable collector that can directly react to oxidation products on the surface of pyrrhotite. OHA can efficiently reclaim oxidized pyrrhotite and achieve the selective separation of a pyrrhotite-serpentine mixture in a weak alkaline environment. The adsorption tests, zeta potential measurements, and XPS analyses show that OHA can interact with an oxidized pyrrhotite surface, and the interaction between OHA and serpentine is very weak. The XPS analyses indicate that the OHA collector can chelate with Fe(OH)3 on the surface of oxidized pyrrhotite and form an “O, O” five-ring chelate. At the same time, the OHA collector may compete with the hydroxyl groups of hydrophilic substances on the mineral surface to produce hydrophobic products and reduce the hydrophilic substances on the mineral surface.

Microstructure Characteristics and Corrosion Behavior of Low‐Alloy High‐Strength Steel used for Armor Layer under Exposure to H2S‐Saturated Solution

“…The binding energies of 168.2 and 170.1 eV were attributed to sulfur bonded to oxygen, which indicates the presence of sulfates, as has also been observed in other studies. [58,63,64] The XRD (Figure 4d) and microscopic surface morphology (Figure 5d) demonstrate the presence of mackinawite and greigite corrosion products. In a sour environment (H 2 S), mackinawite is the initial iron sulfide corrosion product.…”

The Depression and Adsorption Mechanism of Polyglutamic Acid on Chalcopyrite and Pyrrhotite Flotation Systems

“…There are many inorganic reagents available that have been applied for the depression of pyrrhotite flotation. Of these, high-pH reagents such as lime (CaO), sodium hydroxide (NaOH), and sodium carbonate (Na 2 CO 3 ) are widely used depressants for pyrrhotite in the conventional flotation circuits of the copper ore industry [17,18]. However, the depression of pyrrhotite by lime is comparatively more effective than by sodium hydroxide and sodium carbonate.…”