Flotation separation of wolframite from calcite using a new trisiloxane surfactant as collector

Since wolframite is usually associated with calcite,the separation and enrichment of wolframite by froth flotation remains a great challenge.Herein,a novel trisiloxane surfactant N-(2-aminoethyl)-3-ami nopropyltrisiloxane(AATS)was successful synthesized,which was used for the separation of wolframite from calcite for the first time.The flotation separation performance of AATS was studied by flotation test,and its adsorption mechanism was explored based on contact angle,infrared spectrum analysis(FTIR),zeta potential and density functional theory(DFT)calculation.The results of microflotation test and binary mixed ore flotation test pointed that AATS had excellent selectivity and more prominent collection capacity for the flotation of wolframite when compared with industrial reagent sodium oleate(NaOL).The measurement results of contact angle proved that AATS improved the hydrophobicity of the wolframite surface.The highly selective adsorption mechanism of AATS surfactant on mineral surfaces were further researched and analyzed by FTIR and zeta potential.The results revealed that AATS surfactant had significant adsorption effect on wolframite,yet almost no adsorption on calcite.DFT calculation indicated that AATS produced electrostatic adsorption with wolframite surface through—N+H3 group.

Vibrational Spectra and Adsorption of Trisiloxane Superspreading Surfactant at Air/Water Interface Studied with Sum Frequency Generation Vibrational Spectroscopy

The C-H stretch vibrational spectra of the trisiloxane superspreading surfactant Silwet L-77 （（CH3）3Si- O-Si（CH3）（C3H6）（OCH2CH2）7-8OCH3）-O-Si（CH3）3） at the air/water interface are measured with the surface Sum Frequency Generation Vibrational Spectroscopy （SFG-VS）. The spectra are dominated with the features from the -Si-CH3 groups around 2905 cm^-1 （symmetric stretch or SS mode） and 2957 ^-1 （mostly the asymmetric stretch or AS mode）, and with the weak but apparent contribution from the -O-CH2- groups around 2880 ^-1 （symmetric stretch or SS mode）. Comparison of the polarization dependent SFG spectra below and above the critical aggregate or micelle concentration （CAC） indicates that the molecular orientation of the C-H related molecular groups remained unchanged at different surface densities of the Silwet L-77 surfactant. The SFG-VS adsorption isotherm suggested that there was no sign of Silwet L-77 bilayer structure formation at the air/water interface. The Gibbs adsorption free energy of the Silwet surfactant to the air/water interface is -42.2±0.8kcal/mol, indicating the unusually strong adsorption ability of the Silwet L-77 superspreading surfactant.