Microflotation studies of hexadecyl sulfate flotation of barite

Abstract

Sodium hexadecyl sulfate is a very specific collector for barite both because a very low concentration of the collector is required and because the flotation is little influenced by pH. The flotation recovery of barite was markedly different for the three size fractions investigated, because of iron impurities. The iron oxides slimes preferentially stick to the coarser particles altering their flotation behavior. In the finer size fraction of barite the slimes have little effect on the flotation recovery. The electrophoretic experiments and flotation experiments on barite correlate well with each other in the finer size fractions. There is chemisorption of the collector at basic pH values which results in a higher recovery. The flotation rate curves show that recovery of barite is increased and there is less random behavior with higher flow rates of nitrogen. For the coarser sized barite, the recovery vs. collector concentration curves are very steep reflecting the formations of hemi-micelles. For the finer sized barite the effect of the critical micelle concentration can be clearly seen.