Research On The Acidic Flotation Reagent Of Copper-nickel Sulfide Ore And Activation Mechanism With Copper(?) Ammonia Complex In Alkaline Medium

The methods to effectively improve the pentlandite flotation are proposed bycarrying out a series of explorations and investigations in this paper.Through carefully screening and investigating the combination of collectors and activators,we have searched new ways to enhance the grade and recovery of copper and nickel in the concentration.The research in this paper is divided into two parts and given as follow:Part 1:exploration on the acidic flotation reagent of copper–nickel sulfide ore In this section,improving flotation recovery of Jin chuan copper–nickel sulfide ore in acidic medium has been investigated through bench–scale open circuit and locked cycle flotation tests in this paper.Through screening a series of collectors,co–collectors and frothers in open circuit flotation tests,the optimized flotation condition for these reagents at p H=4 has been obtained.When this acidic reagent system was adopted in the locked cycle flotation,the recoveries of Ni and Cu in the concentration could be increased to 58.92%,45.60%,respectively,which was greater than that of the initial comparative system.Experimental results confirmed this novel combining reagent was suitable for flotation separation of the copper–nickel sulphide ore in acidic medium.Part 2:research on activation mechanism of copper(II)ammonia complex onpentlandite flotation in alkaline mediumCopper(II)ammonia complex solution(NS-2)used as an activating agent wasintroduced into activate pentlandite flotation.The interactions of active agents NS-2on pentlandite ore recovery have been discussed in detail by flotation test and electrochemical measurement.The flotation test results showed that NS-2 exhibited better activating performance for pentlandite recovery in terms of activator usage,pulp p H and temperature when compared with traditional activator Cu SO₄,providing a new significant approach for improving the pentlandite flotation recovery.Additionally,the possible mechanisms responsible for using these two activators were investigated by scanning electronic microscopy(SEM)and electrochemical measurement including cyclic voltammetry(CV),polarization curve(Tafel plot)and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy(EIS).The finding of this study demonstrated copper(II)ammonia complex,as an effective activator,could increase the pentlandite recovery when compared with traditional activator Cu SO₄ in alkaline solution.