Effect And Mechanism Of Organic Depressants On Flotation Separation Of Spodumene, Albite And Quartz

Lithium consumption has increased significantly in recent years due to the widespread use of rechargeable lithium batteries in the growing market for electric vehicles and electronic devices.China is rich in lithium resources,but affected by resource endowment and poor mining environment,the dependence of lithium resources is high.Spodumene is one of the important raw materials for lithium extraction in China,but its surface properties are similar to those of associated minerals such as albite and quartz.It is difficult to separate the three minerals effectively by using only collectors without depressants.The effects of depressants such as propyl gallate,pectin and carboxylated chitosan on the flotation behavior of spodumene,albite and quartz were investigated.The adsorption mechanism of these agents on spodumene,albite and quartz was discussed by means of contact angle,zeta potential and infrared spectroscopy.The main contents and results of this paper are as follows:The flotation test shows that when sodium oleate is used as collector,Ca²⁺needs to be added to ensure the good flotation behavior of spodumene,but it also improves the recovery of albite and quartz;When dodecylamine is used as collector,spodumene,albite and quartz have good flotation behavior.After adding depressants,when sodium oleate is used as collector,propyl gallate,tragacanth gum,pectin,sodium carboxymethyl starch and polyether have good separation effect on spodumene-quartz mixed ore,but poor separation effect on spodumene-albite mixed ore.except pectin,other depressants have poor separation effect on spodumene-albite-quartz mixed ore;When dodecylamine is used as collector,the separation effect of calcium lignosulfonate,sodium lignosulfonate and polyether is poor for spodumene-quartz,spodumene-albite,spodumene-albite-quartz mixed ores,and carboxylated chitosan has a certain selective depression effect on spodumene.The mechanism analysis shows that pectin has chemical adsorption on the surface of spodumene and albite and hinders the action of sodium oleate,which makes the surfaces of the two minerals hydrophilic and reduces the floatability;The adsorption of sodium oleate is not affected on the surface of quartz,which makes quartz have good floatability.Carboxylated chitosan adsorbs on the surface of spodumene,which hinders the adsorption of dodecylamine,but the adsorption capacity of carboxylated chitosan on the surface of albite and quartz is little or no adsorption,and does not affect the adsorption of dodecylamine.Pectin and carboxylated chitosan are chemically adsorbed with spodumene by the agent’s own-COO-.