The Study Of The Effects Of Galvanic Interactions Between Sulfides On Flotation And On Electronic Structure And Properties

The research on flotation of sulfide ores has been the important subject of the mineral processing theory studies. Although many researchers have done a number of studies on the sulfide ores and electrochemistry, the investigations on the nature of galena, chalcopyrite, galena, pyrite, arsenopyrite, jamesonite, and marmatite and the interactions between them when they are mixed are few throughout the world. We simulated the effects of charge on the electronic structures, bandstructure, density of states, spin and frontier molecular obitals of pyrite and galena. The tests are important for contributing to the development and the practical application of the theory studies and the practical application about the separation between sulfide ores. The simulated results are of great significance to the mining geology, the governance of acid wastewater and the development of new materials.In this paper, the effects of galvanic corrosion between galena, pyrrhotite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, arsenopyrite, jamesonite and marmatite on the collectorless flotation of them are studied. The research of the seven sulfides when they’re mixed in the proportion of1:1, drew the conclusion that the effects will change the collectorless floatability. The sulfides possessing lower electric potential as the anode present electrochemical activity, and the oxidation reaction is enhanced, so the floatability becomes better. The sulfides possessing higher electric potential as the cathode present electrochemical inertia, and the floatability becomes better. The tests of mixed minerals in different proportion indicate that the floatability of galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite and jamesonite would decrease in the presence of pyrrhotite, however, the floatability of pyrrhotite would increase sharply. The tests also indicate that the effects of the interaction between different minerals depend on the kind and the proportion of minerals.The galvanic interactions between sulfide minerals result from the transfer of electrons that make sulfide minerals acquire additional charges. To simulate the effects of galvanic interactions on the sulfide minerals, we calculated the lattice structure and electronic properties of sulfide minerals possessing different charges based on the density functional theory using galena and pyrite as examples. The results indicate that possessing charges would lead to lattice distortion. The lattice structures expand when minerals are negatively charged, and compress when they are positively charged. The localization of densities of states increases when pyrite or galena is negatively charged, and the delocalization of densities of states increases when pyrite or galena is positively charged. The action coefficient of frontier molecular orbital and even the main action atoms are affected by charges. In addition, the negatively charged pyrite presents metallic feature, the positively charged pyrite presents half-metallic feature and indicates magnetism. Galena in±3charge states possesses magnetism.