Effect of sodium silicate on the flotation behavior of molybdenite in magnetized distilled water system

In order to reveal the effects of sodium silicate on properties of magnetized water and on the improvement of the flotation of molybdenite in magnetized water, single mineral flotation tests of molybdenite in magnetized distilled water were analyzed, and the magnetized distilled water and molybdenite samples were characterized by surface tension, FTIR, XPS, SEM and EDS. On this basis, the mechanism of sodium silicate and molybdenite in magnetized distilled water was discussed with the analysis of flotation solution chemistry. The results showed that when the concentration of kerosene and 2# oil was 80 mg/L and 40 mg/L respectively in the magnetized distilled water, the recovery of molybdenite was 79.92%. When the concentration of sodium silicate was 120 mg/L, all other things being equal, the recovery of molybdenite decreased by 9.63%. The reason of sodium silicate weakening the improvement of flotation of molybdenite in magnetized distilled water is that sodium silicate can decrease the proportion of free water groups in magnetized distilled water and reduce effective components for improving the molybdenite flotation effect in the magnetized distilled water. Hydrophilic SiO(OH)3- of sodium silicate in magnetized distilled water adsorbed and covered selectively in local positive electricity regions of the molybdenite fracture surface, which improved the hydrophilicity of the molybdenite. In addition, sodium silicate can increase the ζ potential of molybdenite in a negative direction in magnetized distilled water, which makes against the adsorption of kerosene on the surface of molybdenite. © 2020, Editorial Board of Journal of CUMT. All right reserved.