Study of butyl-amine nanocrystal cellulose in the flotation of complex sulphide ores

Abstract

Froth flotation is a widely used process for the beneficiation of complex sulphide ores. Thiol collectors (mostly xanthates) are usually effective collectors for sulphide minerals but may have a low selectivity between different sulphide minerals when associated in complex sulphide ores.Additionally, a concern is their suggested harmfulness on human health and impact on the environment. In this study, a green sustainable reagent, butyl-amine cellulose (BAC), was synthesized from hardwood kraft pulp, a renewable abundant resource, for the selective separation of chalcopyrite and sphalerite. The performance evaluation was made using samples of two ores containing chalcopyrite and sphalerite, one was from Panasqueira mine (Portugal) and the other with a different mineral association (from the massive sulphide deposits of the Iberian Pyrite Belt).The study demonstrated that when chalcopyrite is associated with sphalerite, BAC is selective for chalcopyrite, i.e., it is a collector for this mineral and not for sphalerite. The recovery of chalcopyrite in the floated product was a function of interaction between BAC concentration and pulp pH. The study showed that the novel cellulose-based collector had a better performance than the reagents used in the industrial flotation of Panasqueira ore.

A Study on the Electric Surface Potential and Hydrophobicity of Quartz Particles in the Presence of Hexyl Amine Cellulose Nanocrystals and Their Correlation to Flotation

“…The behavior of different aminated cellulose nanocrystals dispersed in an aqueous solution, as well as the change of the wetting properties of quartz surfaces after its adsorption, was part of previous studies by the authors (Hartmann et al, 2016(Hartmann et al, , 2017(Hartmann et al, , 2018Lopéz et al, 2019). In such studies, the influence of nanocellulose on the surface charge of QRZ was identified using zeta potential and it was correlated with the floatability of QRZ using a single-bubble Hallimond tube.…”

A post-pandemic sustainable scenario: What actions can be pursued to increase the raw materials availability?

“…For example, many conventional separation technologies were considered inefficient for the treatment of low-grade ores, that need to be milled into very fine size grains to guarantee sufficient mineral separation ( Dermont et al, 2008 ). The use of flotation technique (with the development of suitable floating agents) allowed to concentrate fine interest minerals, contributing to reach higher revenues in metals extraction (SDG 14) ( Lopéz et al, 2019 ). Other possibilities to increase materials extraction efficiency will be dependent on the development of digitalization of some processes as for example sensor-based detection and separation of mineral streams ( Robben and Wotruba, 2019 ), and the possibilities of machine learning implementation (SDG 12) ( McCoy and Auret, 2019 ).…”

Surface and Interface Engineering for Nanocellulosic Advanced Materials

“…Nanocellulose oxidation by periodate is an aqueous reaction, which has been used to induce functional groups for further hydrophobic modification, that is, a periodate oxidation/reductive amination strategy. [ 40–46 ] In 2014, Guigo et al. oxidized CNFs with NaIO 4 and then conducted reductive amination with benzylamine.…”