Optical luminescence studies of the ethyl xanthate adsorption layer on the surface of sphalerite minerals

•Measurement of luminescence radiation from sphalerite mineral–ethyl xanthate film.•Time dependent determinations: different concentration, pH, at constant temperature.•The kinetics of the adsorption process was determined.•The time to achieve adsorption–desorption equilibrium was approximately 20 min.

In this work we propose optical luminescence measurements as a method to evaluate the kinetics of adsorption processes. Measurement of the intensity of the integral optical radiation obtained from the mineral–xanthate interface layer, stimulated with a monochromatic pulsating optical signal, as a function of time were made. The luminescence radiation was obtained from the thin interface layer formed at the separation surface between the sphalerite natural mineral and potassium ethyl xanthate solution, for different solution concentrations and pH-es at the constant industry standard temperature. This method enabled us to determine the time to achieve dynamic equilibrium in the formation of the interface layer of approximately 20 min, gaining information on the adsorption kinetics in the case of xanthate on mineral surface and leading to the optimization of the industrial froth flotation process.

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