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[Display omitted] • Pectin can achieve selectively separation between apatite and dolomite. • Quantum chemistry was used to predict the reactive site of the polymer depressant molecule. • FTIR spectrum and Raman spectrum were used to analysis the selectively mechanism of pectin. • Pectin adsorbed on the dolomite surface by chelating with calcium and magnesium ions due to COO. The difficulty of apatite and dolomite to be efficiently separated by froth flotation due to similar physical and chemical properties of both minerals in using fatty acid collectors without any depressants. In this study, pectin was explored as an efficient and environment-friendly depressant in flotation to separate apatite and dolomite. In the micro-flotation experiments, pectin displayed an intense depressing effect in dolomite flotation and slightly affected apatite flotation. Quantum chemical calculation was used to predicated the reactive site of pectin, the results demonstrated that oxygen atoms of COO , OH and C O C in pectin display the most negative regions. The Zeta potential results indicated pectin was adsorbed on the dolomite surface selectively and depressed the adsorption of sodium oleate on the dolomite surface due to electrostatic repulsion effect. The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrum measurements uncovered that the selective separation of pectin was due to OH of pectin molecules. The Raman spectrum demonstrated that weak adsorption of pectin on the apatite surface was due to C O of pectin molecule, while the strong adsorption is regard as COO and C O C of pectin for dolomite. XPS results indicated that COO of pectin can chelate with Ca2+ and Mg2+ of dolomite surface and depress dolomite flotation. Hence, pectin was be utilised as an eco-friendly and highly selective depressant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Alkali pretreatment could improve the floatability difference between spodumene and feldspar. • The surface dissolution improved the flotation kinetic parameters of spodumene. • Alkali pretreatment changed the mineral surface ions distribution. The surface chemistry and morphology of minerals produced by alkali pretreatment affects their flotation behaviors. This study systematically investigated the impact on the mineral surface dissolution using NaOH as a modifier, which could modify the surface properties of minerals and improve the floatability difference between spodumene and feldspar. Various characterizations including flotation experiments, flotation kinetics analysis, SEM analysis, microcalorimetry analysis, zeta potential measurements, XPS analysis and ICP-MS analysis were conducted. Single minerals and actual ore flotation experiment results were in good agreement, and the flotation grade and recovery of Li 2 O in spodumene concentrates increased by 1.11 % and 6.99 %, respectively, after NaOH pretreatment. The flotation kinetics results demonstrated the cumulative recoveries of spodumene exhibited the best agreement with the first-order kinetic model and the flotation kinetic constant was improved after alkali pretreatment. Microcalorimetric results indicated the absolute values of the reaction heat for spodumene were higher than that of feldspar reacted with collectors after the alkali pretreatment. XPS and ICP results demonstrated the amounts of Al active sites on the spodumene surface was significantly increased after alkali pretreatment compared to that on the feldspar surface, improving the selective adsorption of NaOL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Wettability differences of spodumene anisotropic crystal surfaces are investigated. • Contact angle relaxation, AFM, and DFT calculations are performed. • Explained differences in the wettability of spodumene anisotropic crystal planes. • Types and number of fracture bonds per unit area are the main influencing factors. • Wettability of water molecules on crystal planes is simulated via DFT calculations. Wettability directly reflects the interaction between minerals, reagents, and water, and is a key factor determining the flotation separation of minerals. Wettability differences of the spodumene anisotropic crystal surfaces are investigated in this study using contact angle relaxation, atomic force microscopy (AFM), and density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The contact angle relaxation and AFM tests confirm the anisotropic wettability of spodumene surfaces from macro and micro perspectives, respectively, and the order of hydrophilicity is (0 1 0) > (1 0 0) > (1 1 0). The DFT calculations based on surface fracture key points and broken bond density explain the differences in the wettability of spodumene crystal surfaces, that is, the types of broken bonds and the number of broken bonds per unit area are the main influencing factors. The wettability of water molecules on different crystal surfaces is simulated based on the DFT calculations of the broken surface bonds and surface energy, which further verifies the experimental results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Oleate hydroxamic acid was synthesized and applied to bastnaesite flotation. • OLHA significantly increased the hydrophobicity of the bastnaesite surface. • OLHA and SHMP have competitive adsorption on the bastnaesite surface. • OLHA was interacted with bastnaesite by chemical absorption. Hydroxamic acid collectors display excellent selectivity but poor collecting ability in bastnaesite flotation. Improving the collecting capacity of hydroxamic acid collector appropriately become an effective method to enhance the performance of flotation reagents. A novel oleate hydroxamic acid (OLHA) as a collector was synthesized and applied to bastnaesite flotation in this work. The structure of OLHA was characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). The single mineral and artificial mixed minerals flotation experiments results show that OLHA achieved efficient flotation separation of bastnaesite and barite when odium hexametaphosphate (SHMP) was used as depressant. The contact angle, zeta potential, FTIR and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) measurements were performed to investigate the adsorption mechanism of OLHA. The contact angle results show that OLHA significantly improved the surface hydrophobicity of bastnaesite. Zeta potential and FTIR results show that in the presence of SHMP, OLHA selectively adsorbs to the surface of bastnaesite. Over all, OLHA adsorbs on the surface of bastnaesite through chemically adsorption, and strengthen the hydrophobicity of bastnaesite surface. Therefore, OLHA is a promising collector for bastnaesite flotation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• 1-Hydroxyethylidene-1,1-diphosphonic acid (HEDP) was used as a calcite depressant in smithsonite flotation. • The selective adsorption of HEDP on calcite surface hindered the adsorption of NaOL. • HEDP adsorbed on calcite surface by forming HEDP-Ca six-membered ring chelates. Removing calcite is a tricky problem in smithsonite flotation because of its better floatability. 1-Hydroxyethylidene-1,1-diphosphonic acid (HEDP), a scale inhibitor in water treatment industry, was chosen as a calcite depressant. This study validated the effectiveness of HEDP in separating smithsonite from calcite by flotation using sodium oleate (NaOL) as the collector, and obtained a 70% recovery difference in a single mineral flotation. Artificial mixed mineral flotation obtained a concentrate with a grade of 44% and a recovery of more than 80%. Zeta potential, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) tests were conducted to obtained some crucial information on the adsorption of NaOL and HEDP, demonstrating that the adsorption of HEDP on calcite surfaces was stronger than smithsonite. The intense adsorption of HEDP on calcite surfaces was attributed to chelation with surface calcium sites. Quantum chemical calculations suggested that the selectivity of HEDP was closely related to the phosphate groups. HEDP was chemically adsorbed on calcite surface by complexing with calcium sites to form six-membered ring chelate. Partial oxygen atoms of phosphate groups dominated in the reaction with calcium sites, and the deprotonation of phosphate groups enhanced the reactivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• NaOL/ND13 first used to separate spodumene and feldspar and showed a better selectivity. • NaOL/ND13 co-absorbed much stronger on the spodumene surface than that of feldspar. • NaOL/ND13 had a stronger chemical reaction with Al sites on spodumene than on feldspar. The mixed anionic/cationic collector sodium oleate/ N-lauryl-1, 3-propylene diamine (NaOL/ND13) was firstly used to separate spodumene from feldspar and exhibited high selectivity. The flotation experiments of single and artificial-mixed mineral showed that the mixed NaOL/ND13 (NaOL: ND13 = 5:1) exhibited excellent flotation separation performance for spodumene from feldspar at pH 8.0. The zeta potential measurement results showed that NaOL and ND13 adsorbed on the mineral surface through chemical and electrostatic adsorption, respectively. The FTIR measurement results showed that the dominant species of NaOL/ND13 adsorbed strongly on mineral surface than each of its components and the interaction between collector and spodumene surface was stronger than that of feldspar surface. Contact angle measurements showed the mixed NaOL/ND13 amplified the difference in surface hydrophobicity between spodumene and feldspar. Ultra-microcalorimetric measurements showed the greater the absolute values of the net reaction heat for spodumene and feldspar reacted with collectors, the better their flotation separability. XPS further showed that NaOL/ND13 had strong chemical reaction with Al sites on mineral surface, but the interaction of NaOL/ND13 with spodumene was stronger than that with feldspar. Therefore, the results of this study are expected to provide more reference value and a meaningful guide for the development of selective flotation collectors for spodumene and feldspar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • A novel Gemini surfactant EDDA was synthesized and innovatively used as a collector for bastnaesite flotation. • Compared with NaOL and DDA, EDDA exhibited a certain specificity for bastnaesite. • EDDA is physisorption on bastnaesite surface by static electricity and hydrogen bonds. • EDDA provides more coordination atoms to bastnaesite. The effective separation of bastnaesite from calcium-containing gangue minerals such as calcite is often difficult and the development of more environmentally-friendly and efficient collectors is imperative. A novel cationic Gemini surfactant ethane-1,2-dodecyldimethylammonium bromide (EDDA) was designed and synthesized in the laboratory, and the flotation performance of EDDA was investigated by micro-flotation and artificial mixed minerals experiments. When the EDDA concentration was 1.5 × 10−4 mol/L at pH 7, the grade of REO and the recovery with EDDA were 70.35 % and 88.45 %, respectively. While the grade of REO of NaOL and DDA were only 35.4 % and 44.15 %, indicating that EDDA has excellent selective collecting ability for bastnaesite. The contact angle test depicts that the hydrophobicity of bastnaesite surface enhances while the wettability of calcite surface almost unchanged. The adsorption mechanism was investigated by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), zeta potential and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The analysis results indicate that EDDA adsorbs on the surface of bastnaesite through electrostatic and hydrogen bonding, and strengthened the surface hydrophobicity of bastnaesite instead of calcite. The study reports the feasibility of applying EDDA for the separation of bastnaesite from calcite. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Fe3+, Mg2+, and Ca2+ exhibited strong activation ability for the spodumene flotation. • The activation ability of Ca2+ and Mg2+ to spodumene is stronger than that of Fe3+. • The metal ions provided more active sites for the adsorption of NaOL. • The colloidal complexes of metal ions and NaOL strengthened the spodumene flotation. The existence of metal ions is inevitable in the spodumene ore beneficiation and the study of their interaction mechanism with spodumene is of great significance for the spodumene flotation. In this work, the effect of Fe3+, Mg2+, and Ca2+ on the flotation behavior of spodumene with NaOL was investigated through micro-flotation experiments. The flotation results showed that Fe3+, Mg2+, and Ca2+ exhibited strong activation ability at pH 6.5, 10.9, and 12.1, respectively, and the activation ability of Mg2+ and Ca2+ toward spodumene was superior compared to that of Fe3+. The activation mechanism of metal ions was explored by the Visual MINTEQ model, in-situ attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS). The results of species distribution calculated by the Visual MINTEQ model and in situ ATR-FTIR demonstrated that NaOL adsorbed more strongly onto spodumene in the presence of Mg2+and Ca2+ compared with that of Fe3+, resulting in better activation of Mg2+and Ca2+. In addition, XPS and ToF-SIMS analyses revealed that the activation of spodumene by metal ions works in two ways. It not only provides more active sites for the adsorption of NaOL, but also interacts with NaOL to form the colloidal complexes and then adsorbed on the spodumene surface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Synthesized ethane-1,2-dodecyldimethylammonium bromide (EDDA) for flotation process. • Reverse froth flotation of limonite. • Used cationic gemini surfactant EDDA as collector for flotation separation of quartz from limonite. • Obtained iron recovery of 86.14% and iron grade of 59.63% at natural pH (7–8) and EDDA 1 × 10-5mol/L. • Provided efficient flotation separation of limonite and quartz without depressant. In this paper, a cationic gemini surfactant ethane-1,2-dodecyldimethylammonium bromide (EDDA) was synthesized and used as a novel collector for the reverse froth flotation of limonite and quartz. According to the pure mineral flotation results, EDDA has good floatation ability and selectivity to quartz over the entire pH range of the slurry and is significantly more effective than dodecylamine (DDA). The experimental results of artificial mixed minerals show that EDDA can achieve high-efficiency separation of limonite and quartz without adding depressant. When the slurry is at natural pH (7–8) and EDDA is 1 × 10-5 mol/L, the concentrate with iron recovery of 86.14% and iron grade of 59.53% can be obtained. The zeta potential measurement shows that the EDDA has a significant effect on the potential of quartz. The results of FT-IR analysis confirmed the physical adsorption between EDDA and quartz. The agent preferentially modifies the quartz surface, improves the hydrophobicity of the quartz, and realizes the effective separation of limonite and quartz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]