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Study of Molybdenite Floatability: Effect of Clays and Seawater

Current challenges in froth flotation are the presence of complex gangues and the use of low-quality waters, such as seawater. In this scenario, the recovery of molybdenum minerals is difficult, mainly due to the hydrophobic faces’ physicochemical changes. In the present study, the natural floatabil...

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Autores principales: Soto, Catalina, Toro, Norman, Gallegos, Sandra, Gálvez, Edelmira, Robledo-Cabrera, Aurora, Jeldres, Ricardo I., Jeldres, Matías, Robles, Pedro, López-Valdivieso, Alejandro
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8840210/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35161082
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma15031136
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author Soto, Catalina
Toro, Norman
Gallegos, Sandra
Gálvez, Edelmira
Robledo-Cabrera, Aurora
Jeldres, Ricardo I.
Jeldres, Matías
Robles, Pedro
López-Valdivieso, Alejandro
author_facet Soto, Catalina
Toro, Norman
Gallegos, Sandra
Gálvez, Edelmira
Robledo-Cabrera, Aurora
Jeldres, Ricardo I.
Jeldres, Matías
Robles, Pedro
López-Valdivieso, Alejandro
author_sort Soto, Catalina
collection PubMed
description Current challenges in froth flotation are the presence of complex gangues and the use of low-quality waters, such as seawater. In this scenario, the recovery of molybdenum minerals is difficult, mainly due to the hydrophobic faces’ physicochemical changes. In the present study, the natural floatability of pure molybdenite was analyzed by using microflotation assays, and hydrophobicity was measured by performing contact-angle measurements. The impact of two clays, kaolin (non-swelling) and Na-montmorillonite (swelling), was studied. The behavior in freshwater and seawater at pH 8 was compared, considering the current condition of the Cu/Mo mining industries, which use seawater in their operations. The presence of clays lowered the natural floatability of molybdenite precisely because they adhere to the surface and reduce its contact angle. However, the intensity with which they cause this phenomenon depends on the type of water and clay. Kaolin strongly adheres to the valuable mineral in both freshwater and seawater. For its part, Na-montmorillonite does it with greater intensity in a saline medium, but in freshwater, a high concentration of phyllosilicate is required to reduce the hydrophobicity of molybdenite. The clays’ adherence was validated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis.
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spelling pubmed-88402102022-02-13 Study of Molybdenite Floatability: Effect of Clays and Seawater Soto, Catalina Toro, Norman Gallegos, Sandra Gálvez, Edelmira Robledo-Cabrera, Aurora Jeldres, Ricardo I. Jeldres, Matías Robles, Pedro López-Valdivieso, Alejandro Materials (Basel) Article Current challenges in froth flotation are the presence of complex gangues and the use of low-quality waters, such as seawater. In this scenario, the recovery of molybdenum minerals is difficult, mainly due to the hydrophobic faces’ physicochemical changes. In the present study, the natural floatability of pure molybdenite was analyzed by using microflotation assays, and hydrophobicity was measured by performing contact-angle measurements. The impact of two clays, kaolin (non-swelling) and Na-montmorillonite (swelling), was studied. The behavior in freshwater and seawater at pH 8 was compared, considering the current condition of the Cu/Mo mining industries, which use seawater in their operations. The presence of clays lowered the natural floatability of molybdenite precisely because they adhere to the surface and reduce its contact angle. However, the intensity with which they cause this phenomenon depends on the type of water and clay. Kaolin strongly adheres to the valuable mineral in both freshwater and seawater. For its part, Na-montmorillonite does it with greater intensity in a saline medium, but in freshwater, a high concentration of phyllosilicate is required to reduce the hydrophobicity of molybdenite. The clays’ adherence was validated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. MDPI 2022-02-01 /pmc/articles/PMC8840210/ /pubmed/35161082 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma15031136 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Soto, Catalina
Toro, Norman
Gallegos, Sandra
Gálvez, Edelmira
Robledo-Cabrera, Aurora
Jeldres, Ricardo I.
Jeldres, Matías
Robles, Pedro
López-Valdivieso, Alejandro
Study of Molybdenite Floatability: Effect of Clays and Seawater
title Study of Molybdenite Floatability: Effect of Clays and Seawater
title_full Study of Molybdenite Floatability: Effect of Clays and Seawater
title_fullStr Study of Molybdenite Floatability: Effect of Clays and Seawater
title_full_unstemmed Study of Molybdenite Floatability: Effect of Clays and Seawater
title_short Study of Molybdenite Floatability: Effect of Clays and Seawater
title_sort study of molybdenite floatability: effect of clays and seawater
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8840210/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35161082
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ma15031136
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