Article Abstract
Surface tension of flotation solution and its influence on the selectivity of the separation between apatite and gangue minerals
Minerals & Metallurgical Processing
, 2009, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 79-84
Martins, M.; Leal Filho, L.S.; Parekh, B.K.
ABSTRACT:
This work presents and discusses the influence of the surface tension (yLV) of methanol/water mixtures on the flotation response of apatite versus gangue minerals conditioned with flotation reagents (75 g/t cornstarch and 100 g/t Berol 867) at pH 10.6. Berol 867 is a collector composed of sodium alkyl sarcosinate plus nonionic surfactant. The highest Schulz efficiency of separation (recovery of apatite minus recovery of gangue) was achieved at ≈51.0 mN/m. The critical surface tension of wettability (yC) of apatite was found to occur at 34.7 mN/m when determined by means of gamma flotation experiments, and it was 33.9 mN/m when determined by Zisman’s approach.