Study on the Floatability of Mineral Particles in the Presence of Surface Active Agents I : Relation between Adsorption of the Collector Ion and the Electrokinetic Potential in Flotation

Abstract

The electro-osmotic velocity, the adsorption density and the floatability of mineral particles were measured for the following systems : fluorite-sodium dodecyl benzene sulphonate, quartz-sodium dodecyl benzene sulphonate, quartz-octadecyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride, scheelite-octadecyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride and quartz-dodecyl ammonium acetate. The relations among the differences in the zeta-potential, the adsorption density and the floatability are discussed. As a result of this research, it was found that the difference in the zeta-potential of the mineral can be correlated with the adsorption density of the collector on the mineral surface, and that, therefore, the floatability of the mineral can be correlated with the difference in the zeta-potential.