Froth flotation separation of fluorite ore using(E)-N-(2-hydroxyethyl)octadec-9-enamide as the flotation collector

Abstract

Separating complicated linked fluorite and calcium-containing gangue minerals efficiently is challenging with a standard oleate (NaOL) collector due to its limited selectivity and flexibility. In order to improve the efficiency of separating fluorite ore through flotation, a new collector called (E)-N-(2-hydroxyethyl)octadec-9-enamide (NOE) was created and compared to the standard collector sodium oleate (NaOL). The experimental results indicate that the optimal pH for flotation is 9, while the optimal dosages of NOE and NaOL are 150 g/t and 300 g/t, respectively. During bench-scale flotation studies, the use of a novel collector (NOE) at half the dose of the usual collector NaOL (175 g/t compared to 350 g/t) resulted in a 9.15 % improvement in the recovery of fluorite.