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Alizadeh Sahraei A, Azizi D, Mokarizadeh AH, Boffito DC, Larachi F. Emerging Trends of Computational Chemistry and Molecular Modeling in Froth Flotation: A Review. ACS ENGINEERING AU 2023; 3:128-164. [PMID: 37362006 PMCID: PMC10288516 DOI: 10.1021/acsengineeringau.2c00053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/28/2022] [Revised: 04/04/2023] [Accepted: 04/06/2023] [Indexed: 06/28/2023]
Abstract
Froth flotation is the most versatile process in mineral beneficiation, extensively used to concentrate a wide range of minerals. This process comprises mixtures of more or less liberated minerals, water, air, and various chemical reagents, involving a series of intermingled multiphase physical and chemical phenomena in the aqueous environment. Today's main challenge facing the froth flotation process is to gain atomic-level insights into the properties of its inherent phenomena governing the process performance. While it is often challenging to determine these phenomena via trial-and-error experimentations, molecular modeling approaches not only elicit a deeper understanding of froth flotation but can also assist experimental studies in saving time and budget. Thanks to the rapid development of computer science and advances in high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructures, theoretical/computational chemistry has now matured enough to successfully and gainfully apply to tackle the challenges of complex systems. In mineral processing, however, advanced applications of computational chemistry are increasingly gaining ground and demonstrating merit in addressing these challenges. Accordingly, this contribution aims to encourage mineral scientists, especially those interested in rational reagent design, to become familiarized with the necessary concepts of molecular modeling and to apply similar strategies when studying and tailoring properties at the molecular level. This review also strives to deliver the state-of-the-art integration and application of molecular modeling in froth flotation studies to assist either active researchers in this field to disclose new directions for future research or newcomers to the field to initiate innovative works.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abolfazl Alizadeh Sahraei
- Department
of Chemical Engineering, Université
Laval, 1065 Avenue de la Médecine, Québec, Québec G1V 0A6, Canada
| | - Dariush Azizi
- Department
of Chemical Engineering, École Polytechnique
de Montréal, 2900 Boulevard Édouard-Montpetit, Montréal H3T 1J4, Canada
| | - Abdol Hadi Mokarizadeh
- School
of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering, University of Akron, Akron, Ohio 44325, United States
| | - Daria Camilla Boffito
- Department
of Chemical Engineering, École Polytechnique
de Montréal, 2900 Boulevard Édouard-Montpetit, Montréal H3T 1J4, Canada
| | - Faïçal Larachi
- Department
of Chemical Engineering, Université
Laval, 1065 Avenue de la Médecine, Québec, Québec G1V 0A6, Canada
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Cueto-Díaz EJ, Gálvez-Martínez S, Colin-García M, Mateo-Martí E. A New Approach in Prebiotic Chemistry Studies: Proline Sorption Triggered by Mineral Surfaces Analysed Using XPS. Life (Basel) 2023; 13:life13040908. [PMID: 37109437 PMCID: PMC10141706 DOI: 10.3390/life13040908] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2023] [Revised: 03/24/2023] [Accepted: 03/28/2023] [Indexed: 04/01/2023] Open
Abstract
The role of minerals in the origin of life and prebiotic evolution remains unknown and controversial. Mineral surfaces have the potential to facilitate prebiotic polymerization due to their ability to adsorb and concentrate biomolecules that subsequently can catalyse reactions; however, the precise nature of the interaction between the mineral host and the guest biomolecule still needs to be understood. In this context, we spectroscopically characterized, using infrared, X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) techniques, the interaction between L-proline and montmorillonite, olivine, iron disulphide, and haematite (minerals of prebiotic interest), by evaluating their interaction from a liquid medium. This work provides insight into the chemical processes occurring between proline, the only cyclic amino acid, and this selection of minerals, each of them bearing a particular chemical and crystal structures. Proline was successfully adsorbed on montmorillonite, haematite, olivine, and iron disulphide in anionic and zwitterionic chemical forms, being the predominant form directly related to the mineral structure and composition. Silicates (montmorillonite) dominate adsorption, whereas iron oxides (haematite) show the lowest molecular affinity. This approach will help to understand structure-affinity relationship between the mineral surfaces and proline, one of the nine amino acids generated in the Miller-Urey experiment.
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Cruz-Hernández AE, Colín-García M, Ortega-Gutiérrez F, Mateo-Martí E. Komatiites as Complex Adsorption Surfaces for Amino Acids in Prebiotic Environments, a Prebiotic Chemistry Essay. Life (Basel) 2022; 12:1788. [PMID: 36362942 PMCID: PMC9696357 DOI: 10.3390/life12111788] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2022] [Revised: 10/28/2022] [Accepted: 11/02/2022] [Indexed: 08/15/2023] Open
Abstract
Komatiites represent the oldest known terrestrial rocks, and their composition has been cataloged as the closest to that of the first terrestrial crust after the cooling of the magma ocean. These rocks could have been present in multiple environments on the early Earth and served as concentrators of organic molecules. In this study, the adsorption of five amino acids (glycine, lysine, histidine, arginine, and aspartic acid) on a natural komatiite, a simulated komatiite, and the minerals olivine, pyroxene, and plagioclase were analyzed under three different pH values: acid pH (5.5), natural pH of the aqueous solution of each amino acid and alkaline pH (11). Adsorption experiments were performed in solid-liquid suspensions and organic molecules were analyzed by spectrophotometry. The main objective of this essay was to determine if the complex surfaces could have participated as concentrators of amino acids in scenarios of the primitive Earth and if the adsorption responds to the change of charge of the molecules. The results showed that komatiite is capable of adsorbing amino acids in different amounts depending on the experimental conditions. In total, 75 systems were analyzed that show different adsorptions, which implies that different interactions are involved, particularly in relation to the type of amino acid, the type of solid material and the conditions of the medium.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abigail E. Cruz-Hernández
- Posgrado en Ciencias de la Tierra, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México 04510, Mexico
| | - María Colín-García
- Instituto de Geología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad de México 04510, Mexico
| | | | - Eva Mateo-Martí
- Centro de Astrobiología (CAB) CSIC-INTA, Carretera de Ajalvir km 4, 28850 Torrejón de Ardoz, Spain
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Martín Romano JC, Casado Aguilar P, Vázquez de Parga AL, Garnica M, Rodríguez de la Fuente O, Rojo JM, Niño MA. Interaction of chiral L-dialanine with Cu(100). Phys Chem Chem Phys 2022; 24:8022-8031. [PMID: 35315463 DOI: 10.1039/d1cp05297g] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
We report on the properties of the thin films of the short peptide L-dialanine grown on Cu(100) surfaces and compare them to those of L-alanine by using surface techniques like XPS, IRRAS and STM. The first dialanine monolayer, in contact with the metallic substrate, is found to consist of whole neutral molecules in the non-zwitterionic state forming a c(2 × 4) pattern with quasi-hexagonal symmetry. The peptide bond of dialanine is preserved in the adsorption state. The ordering of the L-dialanine overlayer is shown to replicate rearrangements of the atoms of the substrate around dislocations of the latter indicating a strong molecule-surface interaction. In the multilayer regime, molecules of the second and further layers are found to be in a zwitterionic state, readily desorbing even at room temperature. The first dialanine layer is tightly bound to the substrate, begins to desorb at temperatures higher than 390 K and cracks down at the surface, transforming into a new moiety, beyond 435 K.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Pablo Casado Aguilar
- Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados IMDEA-Nanociencia, Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain. .,Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada and IFIMAC, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain
| | - Amadeo L Vázquez de Parga
- Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados IMDEA-Nanociencia, Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain. .,Departamento de Física de la Materia Condensada and IFIMAC, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain
| | - Manuela Garnica
- Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados IMDEA-Nanociencia, Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain.
| | | | - Juan M Rojo
- Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados IMDEA-Nanociencia, Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain.
| | - Miguel Angel Niño
- Instituto Madrileño de Estudios Avanzados IMDEA-Nanociencia, Cantoblanco, 28049, Madrid, Spain. .,Alba Synchrotron Light Facility, Cerdañola del Vallés, 08290, Barcelona, Spain
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Nourmohamadi H, Esrafili MD, Aghazadeh V. A DFT investigation into the effects of As-doping on the electronic structure and electrochemical activity of pyrite (FeS 2). J Mol Graph Model 2021; 110:108040. [PMID: 34688162 DOI: 10.1016/j.jmgm.2021.108040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/23/2021] [Revised: 09/15/2021] [Accepted: 09/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Pyrite (FeS2) is a semiconductor mineral with electronic structural properties that are heavily influenced by trace elements in its composition. It has been demonstrated experimentally that the reduction of Fe3+ ions is significantly enhanced in the presence of trace arsenic (As) atoms in FeS2. Using density functional theory calculations, we compare the geometric and electronic structural properties of pure and As-doped (110) pyrite surfaces. The interaction of the Fe3+ ion, a common oxidant of sulfides in acidic solution and acid mine drainage, with the aforementioned surfaces is thoroughly investigated. The findings reveal that the addition of an As atom alters the electronic structure of pyrite and decreases its band gap. The adsorption energy of the Fe3+ ion on As-doped pyrite is greater than that on pure pyrite. The calculated Gibbs free energy changes show that the reduction of Fe3+ to Fe2+ ion on the As-modified surface is thermodynamically more favorable than on pure pyrite.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hossein Nourmohamadi
- Laboratory of Mineral Processing, Department of Mining Engineering, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran
| | - Mehdi D Esrafili
- Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Basic Sciences, University of Maragheh, Maragheh, Iran.
| | - Valeh Aghazadeh
- Laboratory of Mineral Processing, Department of Mining Engineering, Sahand University of Technology, Tabriz, Iran.
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Liang J, Wen X, Wei S, Zheng S. Exploring the Evolution Mechanism of Sulfur Vacancies by Investigating the Role of Vacancy Defects in the Interaction between H 2S and the FeS(001) Surface. ACS OMEGA 2021; 6:19212-19221. [PMID: 34337259 PMCID: PMC8320074 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.1c02639] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2021] [Accepted: 07/01/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Vacancy defects are inherent point defects in materials. In this study, we investigate the role of Fe vacancy (VFe) and S vacancy (VS) in the interaction (adsorption, dissociation, and diffusion) between H2S and the FeS(001) surface using the dispersion-corrected density functional theory (DFT-D2) method. VFe promotes the dissociation of H2S but slightly hinders the dissociation of HS. Compared with the perfect surface (2.08 and 1.15 eV), the dissociation energy barrier of H2S is reduced to 1.56 eV, and HS is increased to 1.25 eV. Meanwhile, S vacancy (VS) significantly facilitates the adsorption and dissociation of H2S, which not only reduces the dissociation energy barriers of H2S and HS to 0.07 and 0.11 eV, respectively, but also changes the dissociation process of H2S from an endothermic process to a spontaneous exothermic one. Furthermore, VFe can promote the hydrogen (H) diffusion process from the surface into the matrix and reduce the energy barrier of the rate-limiting step from 1.12 to 0.26 eV. But it is very hard for H atoms gathered around VS to diffuse into the matrix, especially the energy barrier of the rate-limiting step increases to 1.89 eV. Finally, we propose that VS on the FeS(001) surface is intensely difficult to form and exist in the actual environment through the calculation results.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jingxuan Liang
- School
of New Energy and Materials, China University
of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 102249, P. R. China
| | - Xiangli Wen
- School
of New Energy and Materials, China University
of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 102249, P. R. China
- State
Key Laboratory of Tribology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, P. R.
China
| | - Shikai Wei
- School
of New Energy and Materials, China University
of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 102249, P. R. China
| | - Shuqi Zheng
- School
of New Energy and Materials, China University
of Petroleum (Beijing), Beijing 102249, P. R. China
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Constraining the preservation of organic compounds in Mars analog nontronites after exposure to acid and alkaline fluids. Sci Rep 2020; 10:15097. [PMID: 32934272 PMCID: PMC7492362 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-71657-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/09/2020] [Accepted: 08/19/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
The presence of organic matter in lacustrine mudstone sediments at Gale crater was revealed by the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover, which also identified smectite clay minerals. Analogue experiments on phyllosilicates formed under low temperature aqueous conditons have illustrated that these are excellent reservoirs to host organic compounds against the harsh surface conditions of Mars. Here, we evaluate whether the capacity of smectites to preserve organic compounds can be influenced by a short exposure to different diagenetic fluids. We analyzed the stability of glycine embedded within nontronite samples previously exposed to either acidic or alkaline fluids (hereafter referred to as “treated nontronites”) under Mars-like surface conditions. Analyses performed using multiple techniques showed higher photodegradation of glycine in the acid-treated nontronite, triggered by decarboxylation and deamination processes. In constrast, our experiments showed that glycine molecules were preferably incorporated by ion exchange in the interlayer region of the alkali-treated nontronite, conferring them a better protection against the external conditions. Our results demonstrate that smectite previously exposed to fluids with different pH values influences how glycine is adsorbed into their interlayer regions, affecting their potential for preservation of organic compounds under contemporary Mars surface conditions.
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