Utilization of benzyl aminopropyl dimethoxymethylsilane as collector for the reverse flotation of silicate minerals from magnetite

In this paper, a collector benzyl aminopropyl dimethoxymethylsilane (BADM) was utilized for the reverse flotation of silicate minerals from magnetite. The micro-flotation results showed that good floatability of quartz, garnet, olivine and magnetite was obtained at pH 8 in the presence of BADM. However, the depressant, soluble starch, showed a selective depression for magnetite. Separation of the three silicate minerals from magnetite was performed by mixed- mineral flotation experiments with the soluble starch as depressant and BADM as collector. In order to probe the validity of these findings, zeta potentials were measured and the results showed that conditioning of the silicates with soluble starch prior to BADM did not prevent the adsorption of BADM while the adsorption on the magnetite surfaces was decreased.