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Surface heterogeneity of minerals can significantly affect the adsorption of collectors. Petroleum sulfonate is widely used as a fluorite collector, but how the surface heterogeneity of fluorite influences the adsorption of alkyl sulfonates remains unknown. Herein, two kinds of surface heterogeneity situations, i.e., edge and (1 1 1) _vacancy, were modeled, and the adsorption of sodium dodecyl sulfonate on them was simulated. The results show that the stable adsorption configuration of sodium dodecyl sulfonate on the edge was in a bridged mode, and the stable interaction configuration with vacancy was in a tridentate mode. The 2p orbit of fluorine on the surface of the edge and the vacancy could hinder collector adsorption. After adsorption, the 3d orbit of calcium interacted with the collector orbit above Fermi level, and moved towards the lower energy level, benefiting the adsorption process. It was also found that the adsorption intensity/strength of alkyl sulfonate on fluorite was directly proportional to the interaction intensity of the collector with the 3d orbits of calcium ions on the surface and vacancy. Therefore, the rough fluorite surface had a stronger adsorption effect on the collector, and the existence of vacancy could improve the surface adsorption energy, and thus enhance the adsorption of the collector on the fluorite surface. The rough fluorite surface requires high collector concentration to achieve saturated monolayer adsorption, so increasing vacancy was the better choice to improve the adsorption capacity of alkyl sulfonate on the fluorite surface. This study provides novel insights into the flotation mechanism, in the context of surface heterogeneity, and could guide the design of high-performance collectors for fluorite ore flotation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Andalusite and kyanite are two polymorphic minerals with the same formula but different crystal structures. Despite of their high economic values, selectively recovering them by flotation is a challenge. The flotation recovery of andalusite is higher than that of kyanite with sodium oleate. Sodium oleate adsorbs onto the surfaces mainly through the chemical interaction of oleate ions with aluminum atoms. The higher adsorption of sodium oleate on andalusite surface between the two minerals is related to the higher chemical activity of the aluminum atoms which leads to the better affinity and therefore the lower adsorption energy of sodium oleate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As secondary mineral resources, diatomite tailings (DT) got from the Linjiang region of China were prepared and characterized by SEM, XRF and XRD. Mono-factor experiments were carried out to investigate the effects of the operation factor, including contact time, adsorbent concentration, initial pH value of the dye solutions, adsorption temperature and initial concentration of cationic Red X-GRL (X-GRL) on the adsorption of X-GRL. The adsorption kinetics, isotherms, thermodynamics and mechanisms for X-GRL were also studied. It was efficient for DT to adsorb X-GRL from aqueous solutions, and it was even discovered to have higher adsorptivity for X-GRL than diatomite concentrate (DC) in our previous test. The adsorption processes fit very well with the pseudo-second-order model and the Langmuir isotherm equation. In addition, various thermodynamic parameters, such as standard Gibbs free energy ( ΔG°), standard enthalpy ( ΔH°) and standard entropy ( ΔS°) have been calculated. From thermodynamic studies, it was seen that the adsorption was spontaneous and endothermic. The main driving forces of the physical adsorption on DT are electrostatic attraction. The reason why DT showed higher adsorptivity for X-GRL than DC was that there were more clay mineral particles within, which has a remarkable ability of dye adsorption due to its high surface area. DT as a cheap absorbent for X-GRL removal would replace or partially replace the activated carbon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]