Surface characteristics and flotation behaviours of specularite as influenced by lead ion modification

Specularite is generally recovered by flotation, but its floatability is relatively weak. Activation is an effective method to improve the floatability of minerals. Therefore, finding an economic and effective activator to improve the recovery of specularite is an important research direction. In this study, lead nitrate as an activator was found and confirmed to improve the floatability of specularite. Its activation mechanism was further investigated by various analytical methods. The micro-flotation tests results showed that the recovery of specularite increased from 69.57% to 92.47% at a Pb 2+ concentration of 3 × 10 -5 mol/L, an approximately 23% increase, indicating that Pb 2+ could obviously activate specularite. The SEM-EDS results illustrated that the content of Pb on the specularite surface apparently increased after specularite treatment with lead nitrate, which confirmed the adsorption of Pb species on the surface of specularite. Zeta potential results showed that the zeta potential positively shifted within the pH range from 3 to 11, which was beneficial to the occurrence of electrostatic adsorption and chemisorption between negatively charged oleate species and specularite. XPS results revealed that lead species mainly adsorbed on the O atoms of Fe-O and Fe-OH at the specularite surface, and Pb atoms became new sites to interact with sodium oleate. In addition, Pb 2+ and Pb(OH) + were the predominant components that interacted with the specularite surface and formed -O-Pb and Fe-O-Pb complexes, which considerably increased the number of reactive sites on the specularite surface. After oleate components interacted with Pb-modified specularite, a denser hydrophobic layer was generated on the surface of specularite, which intensified the floatability of specularite.