A Novel Depressant of Sodium Polyacrylate for Magnesite Flotation

In order to inhibit magnesite effectively, a new macromolecule reagent, sodium polyacrylate (SP), is introduced. Micro-flotation results indicate that SP can strongly inhibit the flotation of magnesite in a wide pH range. When pH = 9, the flotation recovery of magnesite is 90%. After increasing the dosage of SP to 10 mg/L, the flotation recovery of magnesite declines to below 20%. Mineral crystal structure and solution chemistry show that SP easily absorbs the Mg2+ active sites on the surface of magnesite. Meanwhile, SP could form a bridge among the magnesite particles and lead to the flocculation and sedimentation, thus inhibiting the magnesite flotation.