The effect of molecular assembly between collectors and inhibitors on the flotation of pyrite and talc

In the flotation process, the traditional dosing sequence is to add an inhibitor first, followed by a collector. However, in the sorting process of copper sulfide ore, this method of dosing does not effectively separate sulfide minerals and layered magnesium silicate minerals. In this study, the effect of adding a guar gum (as an inhibitor) and potassium amyl xanthate (as a collector, shortened as PAX) sequence to the flotation separation of pyrite and talc was investigated by micro-flotation tests, adsorption amount measurements, contact angle measurement and FT-IR analysis. The results show that the collector only adsorbs on the pyrite surface, while the inhibitor has a strong adsorption capacity on the pyrite and talc surface. Through the change of the order of the flotation reagent addition, PAX preferentially adsorbs on the pyrite surface, thereby preventing guar gum from adsorbing on the pyrite surface and achieving the selective inhibition of talc by guar gum. This study will help in understanding the molecular assembly between collectors and inhibitors to further treat complex copper sulfide nickel ore.