The removal of silica from kaolin mineral by amine flotation has been investigated by using dickite and quartz, as a kaolin mineral and a silica mineral, respectively, and dodecylammonium acetate (DAA), as a collector.
The experiments consist of measurements of cation exchange capacity of dickite, amine adsorption amounts and ζ potential, and flotation tests.
The results obtained have been discussed by taking account of the inherent surface properties of clay minerals due to their layer structure.
The conclusions are as follows.
1) In neutral or alkaline pH range, quartz can not float from dickite so selectively as would be expected from the flotation results of pure samples. In the case of small amounts of addition of DAA, flotation of, quartz does not occur, because the greater part of dodecylammonium ion (DA
+) is consumed by entering into the interlayer of dickite, and if the amounts of addition of DAA increase, some portions of dickite float with quartz because DA
+is adsorbed on not only the quartz surface but also the dickite surface.
2) In acidic pH range, dickite can float selectively from quartz. This may be caused by the reasons that hydrogen ion enters into the interlayer of dickite instead of DA
+and DA
+is adsorbed on the dickite surface rather than on the quartz surface because the layer surface of dickite is charged more negatively.
3) Flotation of dickite from quartz in the acidic pH range becomes difficult with the decrease of the sample size. This may be explained by the reasons that the floatability of quartz increases with the decrease of size in the acidic pH range where the frothing power of DAA is strong and the heteroflocculation occurs due to the interaction between the positive charge of the edge surface of dickite and the negative charge of the quartz surface.
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