Flotation behavior and mechanism of phenylpropenyl hydroxamic acid for the separation of smithsonite and calcite

Abstract In this paper, phenylpropenyl hydroxamic acid (PHA) was synthesized and used as collector in flotation experiments. PHA was compared with sodium oleate (NaOL) and benzo hydroxamic acid (BHA) which were used in industrial production to investigate its flotation performance. Zeta potential measurement, Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR) measurement and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurement were carried out to revealed the interaction mechanism between smithsonite and PHA. The results of pure minerals micro-flotation experiments showed that the recovery of smithsonite reached at 90.5% while pH was 7, PHA dosage was 50 mg/L. The artificial mixed ore flotation experiments could obtain concentrate with zinc grade of 35.1% and recovery of zinc was 81.4%. Zeta potential and FTIR experiments indicated that PHA had absorbed on the smithsonite surface and changed the smithsonite surface state. XPS measurement demonstrated that PHA reacted with Zn atom and formed Zn-PHA complex which improved the hydrophobicity of the smithsonite surface, resulting in that smithsonite was easier to be attached by bubbles and carried to the pulp surface.