Mitigating the coating of fine quartz in fluorite flotation using a triblock copolymer

Slime coating is a common problem in mineral flotation and this study explored a novel idea to mitigate slime coating to improve mineral flotation. Guided by the previous work, Pluronic triblock copolymer F-127 (PEO 100 PPO 65 PEO 100 ) was chosen to mitigate fine quartz coating in fluorite flotation. Then the mechanism underpinning the mitigation of fine quartz coating on fluorite surface by F-127 and the interaction of F-127 with collector sodium oleate on quartz and fluorite surfaces were studied. It was found that F-127 adsorbed on both quartz and fluorite surfaces and therefore mitigated fine quartz coating on fluorite surface through steric repulsion. The adsorbed F-127 on fluorite surface also enhanced the adsorption of sodium oleate but had little effect on the adsorption of sodium oleate on quartz surface. The mitigation of fine quartz coating and enhanced adsorption of sodium oleate on fluorite surface explain the significantly improved fluorite flotation in the presence of fine quartz particles after the addition of F-127.