Picromerite flotation enhancement through surface roughness modification induced by ultrasonic treatment

Picromerite is an important material for producing potash fertilizer. However, picromerite exhibited a poor recovery in the practical flotation process. In this study, we propose a strategy to improve the recovery by surface roughness modification with ultrasonic treatment. SEM images show that the surface morphology became rougher after ultrasonic treatment. Flotation tests demonstrate that the recovery of picromerite increased from the original 79.85% to 90.24% after ultrasonic treatment for 60 min. The mechanism of enhanced flotation was further analyzed with the help of adhesion-desorption force, surface wettability, collector adsorption, and XPS analysis, which indicated that ultrasonic treatment makes the surface more hydrophobic and exposed additional magnesium adsorption sites, thereby facilitating more effective reagent adsorption on the picromerite surface. The method of surface roughness modification by ultrasonic treatment proposed in this work provides a novel way to improve the flotation efficiency, which holds significant potential for enhancing the recovery of other similar soluble or semi-soluble minerals.