Interaction mechanism of miscible DDA–Kerosene and fine quartz and its effect on the reverse flotation of magnetic separation concentrate

• The upper critical solution temperature of DDA–Kerosene was 34 °C.
• DDA–Kerosene produced a better kerosene emulsion.
• Larger compact agglomeration formed with DDA–Kerosene collector.

In this study, a modification of oil assisted flotation processes of quartz particles has been proposed, which is based on introduction of miscible Dodecylamine (DDA)-Kerosene as collector with DDA cationic surfactant coated on kerosene to the hydrophilic quartz particles in the pulp. The property of miscible DDA–Kerosene emulsion was investigated. Due to the adsorption of DDA at kerosene/water interface, a smaller and uniform kerosene emulsion formed. Addition of cationic surfactant to the kerosene emulsion changed the zeta potential value from negative to positive, which resulted in enhancing the adhesion of the oil droplets to negatively charged quartz. The results showed that agglomeration and flotation process can be realized simultaneously with DDA–Kerosene. The agglomeration of fine quartz minerals in the presence of miscible DDA–Kerosene led to the formation of very large compact agglomerates resulting in increasing hydrophobicity of the particles and inducing a higher probability of collision and adhesion to air bubble. Experimental data indicated that miscible DDA–Kerosene had better selectivity and stronger collectability to quartz than DDA–HCl, which can be used as an efficient collector in the reverse flotation of magnetic separation concentrate of TISCO. At the same DDA dosage (60 g/t), separation efficiency got to 18.53% when using DDA–HCl as collector; while a better result was obtained with DDA–Kerosene, the efficiency of separation reached 59.07% which was identical with 120 g/t DDA–HCl.