Selective flotation of siderite and quartz from a carbonate-containing refractory iron ore using a novel amino-acid-based collector

A novel and highly-efficient amino-acid-based collector, α-ethylenediamine lauric acid (α-EDA-LA), was studied to selectively beneficiate carbonate-containing refractory hematite ores. Single mineral and synthetic mixture flotation tests were carried out to investigate its floating performance. Zeta potential, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Density Functional Theory-based molecular simulation were used to identify the adsorption mechanism. The flotation results showed that quartz could be collected effectively at pH 11.0-12.0 in the reverse flotation. For siderite, the recovery peaked at 83.4% at pH 8.0, where siderite presented different floatability from magnetite and hematite. Exploiting such difference, the separation of siderite could be achieved. Zeta-potential measurements showed that α-EDA-LA adsorption on the surfaces of siderite and quartz decreased the corresponding zeta potentials at pH of 8.0-10.0 and 8.0-12.0, respectively. This means the adsorption overcome the electrostatic repulsion between α-EDA-LA and the mineral surfaces. The molecular simulation indicated that no chemisorption took place between α-EDA-LA and quartz. FTIR analysis suggested that α-EDA-LA was adsorbed on quartz via hydrogen bonding. The adsorption of α-EDA-LA on siderite surface was dominated by chemisorption, while further enhanced by hydrogen bonding. This study filled the gap in the research on siderite flotation reagents and its adsorption mechanism.