Molybdenite Flotation System Interface Interaction

In this paper, the object of study is the natural hydrophobic mine-Molybdenite, Silica, Calcite, Mica, Talc and three kinds of trapping agents-Kerosene oil, Diesel oil and CSU31. The parameters of surface energy including Lifshitz-vander Waals component, Lewis acid base and Lewis alkali base are obtained by means of measuring contact angle. By calculating the interfacial reciprocity free energy of both mineral and water, trapping agent and water, mineral and air bubble, trapping agent and mineral in the Molybdenite system, we have studied interfacial interactivities systemly, such as Vander Waals force, hydrophobic attraction, hydrated repellent force, etc. of all interphases.The computational result of interfacial reciprocity free energy between minerals and water shows: in water medium, Vander Waals attraction and hydrophobic attraction exist in the interphase between molybdenite, rocky mineral and water, where hydrated film formed.Hydrophobic attraction between molybdenite and water is lower than that between rocky mineral and water observably. Consequently, it causes that the hydrated film of molybdenite is thin. Molybdenite is provided with natural flotatility, because there is stronger hydrophobic attraction between molybdenite and air bubble in water medium.The research of interfacial interactivity between trapping agent and water indicates that vander Waals attractive force and hydrophobic attractive force exist between the trapping agents (kerosene ,diesel oil and CSU31) and water, In which vander Waals attractive force is slight, compared with the and hydrophobic attractive force caused by Lewis acid-base, which is the major effect and determines the dispersibility of trapping agent in water medium.The research of interfacial interactivity between trapping agent and mineral indicates that when the adsorption happened between molybdenite and trapping agents, the major activity is hydrophobic attractive force, which is bigger than the interactivity between trapping agent and rocky mineral. Therefore, the hydrophobic attractive force of trapping agent and rocky mineral is a very important benchmark which can evaluates the content of inclusion in the flotation system of molybdenite.In this paper, we choose two kinds of minerals from mines mountains to undertake the research progress and gain research results as the following: according to the good hydrophobicity of molybdenite surface, the hydrophobic attractive force between various trapping agents and molybdenite can meet the requirement of flotation of molybdenite. The adsorptive intensity of trapping agents on the surface of mineral is not the primary factor of the flotation parameter of molybdenite. It is the dispersibility of trapping agent in mortar that is the main benchmark of evaluating the trapping agents of molybdenite.That is to say, the interfacial interactivity free energy between trapping agent and water may be used to evaluate the property of trapping agents.