Molecular structures and activity of organic depressants for marmatite, jamesonite and pyrite flotation
(1. College of Resources and Metallurgy, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China;
2. College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China;
3. Design and Research Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Zijin Mining Group Limited Company,
Longyan 364200, China)
2. College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China;
3. Design and Research Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, Zijin Mining Group Limited Company,
Longyan 364200, China)
Abstract: Ten kinds of organic depressants were used to investigate the depressing performance on marmatite and pyrite. Flotation results show that the organic compounds only with single group of hydroxyl (—OH), carboxyl (—COOH) or amino (—NH2) in molecule are ineffective in depressing marmatite, jamesonite and pyrite. The combinations of these functional groups still cannot enhance the depressing ability of organic depressant. The thioglycollic acid containing reductive functional group (—SH) has a good depressing performance for marmatite and pyrite. The presence of benzene ring in molecule can enhance the depressing performance. The functional group electronegativity, hydrophilic-hydrophobic indexes and frontier orbital of organic depressants were calculated, and the criterion for the depressing effect of organic depressants to sulphide minerals was proposed.
Key words: marmatite; pyrite; organic depressant; frontier orbital