Study on the performance and mechanism of polyetheramine as a novel collector for silica removal from hematite by reverse flotation
LI Yifei
MEI Guangjun
CHEN Qian
LEI Zerui
YAN Qiang
WANG Junyan
Abstract：To advance the industrial application of cationic reverse flotation for silica removal in mineral processing,this study developed polyetheramine(PEA)as a novel collector based on Wuhan University of Technology's proprietary ether-amine collectors(GE-601 and GE-609).Through systematic evaluation of PEA derivatives with varying carbon chain lengths(PEA-D230,PEA-D400,PEA-D2000)versus conventional dodecylamine(DDA),the evaluation in-cluded both single mineral flotation tests and artificial mixed ore reverse flotation experiments using hematite and quartz at a 3∶2 mass ratio.The results demonstrate that under neutral pH conditions,PEA's collecting capacity shows a positive correlation with molecular chain length,with quartz recovery efficiency ranges from high to low as:PEA-D2000(95.78％),PEA-D400,DDA,PEA-D230 at 1×10-5 mol/L dosage.Remarkably,PEA-D2000 achieved excep-tional metallurgical performance in mixed ore flotation without depressants,producing a con-centrate with 50.5％iron grade and 99.32％recovery,surpassing conventional DDA signifi-cantly.Mechanistic studies employing FTIR spectroscopy,zeta potential measurements,and XPS analysis revealed that PEA adsorption on quartz surfaces occurs through both electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonding.These findings highlight the superior performance of struc-turally optimized polyetheramine collectors in reverse flotation desilication processes,demon-strating strong potential for industrial-scale implementation in mineral beneficiation.
Keywords：PEAhematitequartzreverse flotation
Publication Date：2025-07-30
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：8( 896-903 )