%0 Journal Article
%T Surface Mechanism of Fe3+ Ions on the Improvement of Fine Monazite Flotation With Octyl Hydroxamate as the Collector.
%A Zheng Q
%A Qian Y
%A Zou D
%A Wang Z
%A Bai Y
%A Dai H
%J Front Chem
%V 9
%N 0
%D 2021
%M 34368081
%F 5.545
%R 10.3389/fchem.2021.700347
%X Froth flotation of fine minerals has always been an important research direction in terms of theory and practice. In this paper, the effect and mechanism of Fe3+ on improving surface hydrophobicity and flotation of fine monazite using sodium octyl hydroxamate (SOH) as a collector were investigated through a series of laboratory tests and detection measurements including microflotation, fluorescence spectrum, zeta potential, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Flotation tests have shown that fine monazite particles (-26 + 15 μm) cannot be floated well with the SOH collector compared to the coarse fraction (-74 + 38 μm). However, adding a small amount of Fe3+ to the pulp before SOH can significantly improve the flotation of fine monazite. This is because the addition of Fe3+ promotes the adsorption of SOH and greatly improves the hydrophobicity of the monazite surface. This can result in the formation of a more uniform and dense hydrophobic adsorption layer, as shown by the fluorescence spectrum and zeta potential results. From the XPS results, Fe3+ reacts with surface O atoms on the surface of monazite to form a monazite-Osurf-Fe group that acts as a new additional active site for SOH adsorption. A schematic model was also proposed to explain the mechanism of Fe3+ for improving surface hydrophobicity and flotation of fine monazite using octyl hydroxamate as a collector. The innovative point of this study is using a simple reagent scheme to float fine mineral particles rather than traditional complex processes.