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Sun K, Nguyen CV, Nguyen NN, Nguyen AV. Flotation surface chemistry of water-soluble salt minerals: from experimental results to new perspectives. Adv Colloid Interface Sci 2022; 309:102775. [PMID: 36152375 DOI: 10.1016/j.cis.2022.102775] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/05/2022] [Revised: 09/12/2022] [Accepted: 09/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
Abstract
The flotation separation of water-soluble salt minerals has to be conducted under the condition of saturation in brines which represents a challenging but exciting topic of colloid and surface chemistry. Despite several proposals on explaining the success of this industrial application for many decades, our understanding of the flotation separation is still far from complete yet, owing to the complexity of the highly selective collection of salt crystals by air bubbles in brines. Here, we thoroughly review the experimental results for halogen, oxyanion, and double salts and match them with the proposed theories on the flotation of soluble salts to identify the agreed and disagreed cases. The experimental results show that the flotation of these salts varies from collectors (surfactants applied to control the crystal hydrophobicity) to collectors and is strongly affected by the brine ion composition and pH conditions. We find some exceptional flotation results that cannot be simply explained by the crystal surface charge and wettability. Furthermore, we outline several disputes and discrepancies between the experiments and the theories when different collectors are applied. Apart from the extensive consideration of surface hydration, the presence of external ion species exhibits ubiquitous effects on the surface properties of salt crystals and the colloidal properties of collectors. We conclude that the interactions between salt ions, water molecules, collectors, and salt crystals must be considered more thoroughly, and the activity of collectors at the air-liquid interface should also be the focus. Advanced techniques such as molecular dynamics simulation, atomic force microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and sum-frequency generation spectroscopy are expected to be promising research tools for future studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kangkang Sun
- School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
| | - Cuong V Nguyen
- School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
| | - Ngoc N Nguyen
- School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia
| | - Anh V Nguyen
- School of Chemical Engineering, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland 4072, Australia.
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Surface Chemical Heterogeneity of Low Rank Coal Characterized by Micro-FTIR and Its Correlation with Hydrophobicity. MINERALS 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/min11030239] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Micro-Fourier transform infrared (micro-FTIR) spectroscopy was used to correlate the surface chemistry of low rank coal with hydrophobicity. Six square areas without mineral impurities on low rank coal surfaces were selected as testing areas. A specially-designed methodology was applied to conduct micro-FTIR measurements and contact angle tests on the same testing area. A series of semi-quantitative functional group ratios derived from micro-FTIR spectra were correlated with contact angles, and the determination coefficients of linear regression were calculated and compared in order to identify the structure of the functional group ratios. Finally, two semi-quantitative ratios composed of aliphatic carbon hydrogen, aromatic carbon hydrogen and two different types of carbonyl groups were proposed as indicators of low rank coal hydrophobicity. This work provided a rapid way to predict low rank coal hydrophobicity through its functional group composition and helped us understand the hydrophobicity heterogeneity of low rank coal from the perspective of its surface chemistry.
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Hartmann R, Rinne T, Serna-Guerrero R. On the Colloidal Behavior of Cellulose Nanocrystals as a Hydrophobization Reagent for Mineral Particles. LANGMUIR : THE ACS JOURNAL OF SURFACES AND COLLOIDS 2021; 37:2322-2333. [PMID: 33544605 PMCID: PMC8023700 DOI: 10.1021/acs.langmuir.0c03131] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2020] [Revised: 01/26/2021] [Indexed: 06/12/2023]
Abstract
In the search for more sustainable alternatives to the chemical reagents currently used in froth flotation, the present work offers further insights into the behavior of functionalized cellulose nanocrystals as mineral hydrophobization agents. The study corroborates that hexylamine cellulose nanocrystals (HACs) are an efficient collector for the flotation of quartz and also identifies some particular characteristics as a result of their colloidal nature, as opposed to the water-soluble reagents conventionally used. To investigate the individual and collective effects of the frother and HACs on the attachment of particles and air bubbles, an automated contact timer apparatus was used. This induction timer measures particle-bubble attachment probabilities (Patt) without the influence of macroscopic factors present in typical flotation experiments. This allowed the study of the combined influence of nanocellulose and frother concentration on Patt for the first time. While HACs readily adsorb on quartz modifying its wettability, the presence of a frother leads to a drastic reduction in Patt up to 70%. The improved recovery of quartz in flotation cells might thus be attributed to froth stabilization by HACs, perhaps acting as a Pickering foam stabilizer. Among the main findings, a tendency of HACs to form mineral agglomerates was identified and further explained using the extended DLVO theory in combination with measured adsorption rates in a quartz crystal microbalance. Therefore, this study distinguishes for the first time the antagonistic effect of frothers on Patt and their synergies with HACs on the stabilization of orthokinetic froths through the hydrophobization mechanism unlike those of typical water-soluble collectors.
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Surface nanobubbles on the rare earth fluorcarbonate mineral synchysite. J Colloid Interface Sci 2019; 552:66-71. [PMID: 31102850 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2019.05.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/08/2019] [Revised: 05/03/2019] [Accepted: 05/04/2019] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Surface nanobubbles have been identified to play an important role in a range of industries from mineral processing to food science. The formation of surface nanobubbles is of importance for mineral processing in the extraction of complex ores, such as those containing rare earth elements. This is due to the way minerals are extracted utilising froth flotation. In this study, surface nanobubbles were imaged using non-contact atomic force microscopy on a polished cross section containing rare earth minerals. Nanobubbles were found on synchysite under reagent conditions expected to induce hydrophobicity in rare earth minerals, which is required for efficient processing. Synchysite -(Ce) is a rare earth fluorcarbonate mineral containing over 30% rare earth elements. Relatively little research has been conducted on synchysite, with only a few papers on its surface behaviour and flotation. The resulting nanobubbles were analysed and showed an average contact angle of 24° ± 8. These are in line with contact angles found on dolomite and galena by previous studies.
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Babel B, Rudolph M. Fast preparation and recycling method for colloidal probe cantilevers in hydrophobic mapping applications. MethodsX 2019; 6:651-659. [PMID: 30989057 PMCID: PMC6449653 DOI: 10.1016/j.mex.2019.03.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2018] [Accepted: 03/08/2019] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Probe contamination of atomic force microscope (AFM) tips with colloidal probes is limiting the lifetime of the probe and the reproducibility in force interaction measurements, rendering cantilevers useless. Earlier proposed cleaning methods like mechanical scrubbing, UV, plasma and solvent cleaning procedures have limitations especially for inorganic particulate contaminations. In this paper we demonstrate a fast procedure to recycle contaminated colloidal probe cantilevers and reequip them with pristine colloids without affecting the mechanical and structural properties of the cantilever. The proposed procedure reduces the total time for probe preparation and allows extended experimental test work with singular cantilevers reducing the deviations by cantilever calibration. fast preparation recyclable cantilevers
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Abstract
Flotation constitutes a separation process that originated from mineral processing. Nowadays, wider applications have been found and compared to flotation for water and wastewater treatment. Stress in the present review paper was mainly applied to heavy metal ions recovery by flotation and the respective mechanism followed, being either ion, precipitate, or sorptive flotation. In the latter case, the use of adsorbents is included (such as powdered activated carbon, zeolites, and goethite), as well as various biosorbents. The flotation of the following metals was reviewed: copper, zinc, nickel, lead, iron, chromium, arsenic, gold, and others. The bubble generation method could be applied for typical dispersed-air flotation column, electroflotation, or dissolved-air flotation; the latter being the most appropriate established technique in water treatment. The role of particle size (for example, studying flotation of salt-type mineral fines) was also examined.
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Xing Y, Xu M, Gui X, Cao Y, Babel B, Rudolph M, Weber S, Kappl M, Butt HJ. The application of atomic force microscopy in mineral flotation. Adv Colloid Interface Sci 2018; 256:373-392. [PMID: 29559086 DOI: 10.1016/j.cis.2018.01.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 81] [Impact Index Per Article: 13.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2017] [Revised: 01/29/2018] [Accepted: 01/29/2018] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
During the past years, atomic force microscopy (AFM) has matured to an indispensable tool to characterize nanomaterials in colloid and interface science. For imaging, a sharp probe mounted near to the end of a cantilever scans over the sample surface providing a high resolution three-dimensional topographic image. In addition, the AFM tip can be used as a force sensor to detect local properties like adhesion, stiffness, charge etc. After the invention of the colloidal probe technique it has also become a major method to measure surface forces. In this review, we highlight the advances in the application of AFM in the field of mineral flotation, such as mineral morphology imaging, water at mineral surface, reagent adsorption, inter-particle force, and bubble-particle interaction. In the coming years, the complementary characterization of chemical composition such as using infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy for AFM topography imaging and the synchronous measurement of the force and distance involving deformable bubble as a force sensor will further assist the fundamental understanding of flotation mechanism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yaowen Xing
- School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China; Chinese National Engineering Research Center of Coal Preparation and Purification, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China; Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Ackermannweg 10, 55128 Mainz, Germany
| | - Mengdi Xu
- School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China
| | - Xiahui Gui
- Chinese National Engineering Research Center of Coal Preparation and Purification, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China; Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Ackermannweg 10, 55128 Mainz, Germany.
| | - Yijun Cao
- Chinese National Engineering Research Center of Coal Preparation and Purification, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China; Henan Province Industrial Technology Research Institute of Resources and Materials, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China.
| | - Bent Babel
- Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology, Chemnitzer Str. 40, 09599 Freiberg, Germany
| | - Martin Rudolph
- Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Helmholtz Institute Freiberg for Resource Technology, Chemnitzer Str. 40, 09599 Freiberg, Germany
| | - Stefan Weber
- Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Ackermannweg 10, 55128 Mainz, Germany
| | - Michael Kappl
- Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Ackermannweg 10, 55128 Mainz, Germany.
| | - Hans-Jürgen Butt
- Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Ackermannweg 10, 55128 Mainz, Germany.
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Rudolph M, Hartmann R. Specific surface free energy component distributions and flotabilities of mineral microparticles in flotation—An inverse gas chromatography study. Colloids Surf A Physicochem Eng Asp 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfa.2016.10.069] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
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Knüpfer P, Fritzsche J, Leistner T, Rudolph M, Peuker UA. Investigating the removal of particles from the air/water-interface – Modelling detachment forces using an energetic approach. Colloids Surf A Physicochem Eng Asp 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfa.2016.10.046] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
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