Flotation separation performance and mechanism of sphalerite from pyrite by Fe³⁺-Cu²⁺-BX process

Abstract

The lime-Cu²⁺-xanthate process is commonly used for the flotation separation of sphalerite from pyrite. In this process, lime is added to the pulp to inhibit the floatability of pyrite. However, the excessive use of lime can result in pipeline blockage and inadequate recovery of associated precious metals. Therefore, it is necessary to develop new flotation process that minimizes or eliminates the use of lime. In this paper, a novel Fe³⁺-Cu²⁺-butyl xanthate process was developed as an alternative to lime for separating of sphalerite from pyrite. The flotation results indicated that with the artificially-mixed minerals, the flotation recovery of pyrite was lower than 16% and that of sphalerite was higher than 47% at pH 5.0–10.0. The zeta potential measurements revealed that ferric ion preferred to adsorb on pyrite, and copper ion displaced with zinc ion from the lattice at the interface of sphalerite. The wettability analyses indicated that the hydrophobicity of sphalerite surface increased apparently after being treated with Fe³⁺-Cu²⁺-BX, while the hydrophobicity of pyrite surface remained nearly unchanged. With XPS analysis, Cu—S bond and hydrophilic ferric hydroxide were detected separately on the surface of sphalerite and pyrite after conditioning with Fe³⁺-Cu²⁺-BX, which facilitated the flotation separation of sphalerite from pyrite with butyl xanthate collector.

Keywords

flotation separation / sphalerite / pyrite / Fe³⁺-Cu²⁺-butyl xanthate

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