Study On Flotation And Froth Performance Of New Cationic Collectors Of Iron Ore

The main characteristics of Chinese iron ore resources are poor, fine grained and complicated. It is important to add the flotation process to separate silicate from the iron ore. The anionic reverse flotation process is more popular currently, but there are many shortages:the complicated reagent system (with the regulator, depressant, activator, collector), complicated operation, high cost of reagents, higher flotation temperature, equipment corrosion. In comparison, cationic reverse flotation has great advantages.On the basis of the summary and analysis of many related references, a series of new cationic collectors are synthesized through lots of experimental research to improve the froth performance of traditional cationic collectors.A new cationic collector DHPA-3 is synthesized, the synthesis conditions:DDA:HOB=1:1.4(molar ratio), reaction temperature:60℃, reaction time:6 h.The test results of the real ore show that an iron concentrate of 62.60% Fe was obtained with a recovery of 53.87% through one roughing when using 1000g/t starch as depressant and 250g/t DHPA-3 as collector at natural pH. The feed grade is 41.95%.Flotation results show that using DHPA-3 and dodecyl amine as collectors tests achieved good separation while dodecyl dimethyl amine and dodecyl trimethyl ammonium chloride didn't work well, and their collecting abilities are in the sequence of dodecyl amine> DHPA-3> dodecyl dimethyl amine> dodecyl trimethyl ammonium chloride.Tests of Three-phase froth indicated that dodecyl amine created biggest volume of froth and defoamed at the slowest rate, and their defoaming rate is in the sequence of dodecyl trimethyl ammonium chloride> DHPA-3> dodecyl dimethyl amine> dodecyl amine.Tests of Two-phase froth indicated that dodecyl dimethyl amine has weaker foaming ability, and three other reagents have the same foaming ability. Lauryl trimethyl ammonium chloride defoams fastest, while DHPA-3 defoams faster than dodecyl amine, dodecyl dimethyl amine defoams slowest. Two-phase froth has a little different performance from Three-phase froth.In the cationic reverse flotation of iron ore, starch not only can be used as depressant, but also can be used to improve the froth performance. Adding right amount of starch can significantly decrease the volume of froth.