Effect of ammonium sulfate on the formation of zinc sulfide species on hemimorphite surface and its role in sulfidation flotation

• Published in: International journal of minerals, metallurgy and materials Vol. 30; no. 11; pp. 2147 - 2156
• Main Authors: Zhang, Xi, Wang, Yu, Deng, Jiushuai, Bai, Zhongyi, Xu, Hongxiang, Meng, Qingfeng, Jin, Da, Sun, Zhenwu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Beijing University of Science and Technology Beijing 01-11-2023; Springer Nature B.V; State Key Laboratory of Complex Nonferrous Metal Resources Clean Utilization, Kunming 650093, China; Engineering Technology Research Centre for Comprehensive Utilization of Rare Earth, Rare Metal and Rare-Scattered in Non-ferrous Metal Industry, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China%Key Laboratory of Separation and Processing of Symbiotic-Associated Mineral Resources in Non-ferrous Metal Industry, School of Chemical and Environment-al Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China; Inner Mongolia Research Institute, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Ordos 017001, China; Key Laboratory of Separation and Processing of Symbiotic-Associated Mineral Resources in Non-ferrous Metal Industry, School of Chemical and Environment-al Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing), Beijing 100083, China
• Subjects: Ammonia; Ammonium; Ammonium sulfate; Ceramics; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Composites; Corrosion and Coatings; Emission analysis; Emission measurements; Experiments; Flotation; Glass; Inductively coupled plasma; Mass spectrometry; Materials Science; Metallic Materials; Minerals; Natural Materials; Photoelectrons; Scientific imaging; Secondary ion mass spectrometry; Sodium; Sulfates; Sulfidation; Sulfides; Sulfur; Surfaces and Interfaces; Thin Films; Tribology; Visual flight; X ray photoelectron spectroscopy; Zinc oxides; Zinc silicates; Zinc sulfide; hemimorphite; zinc sulfide species; adsorption; flotation; sulfidation; ammonium sulfate
• ISSN: 1674-4799; 1869-103X
• DOI: 10.1007/s12613-023-2650-5

Effectively strengthening the surface sulfidation is essential for recovering hemimorphite by froth flotation. In this work, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometer (ICP-OES) measurements, Visual MINTEQ calculation, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis, time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS) analysis, and micro-flotation experiments were explored to systematically investigate the effect of ammonium sulfate ((NH
4
)
2
SO
4
) on the formation of zinc sulfide species on hemimorphite surface and its role in sulfidation flotation. The results showed that (NH
4
)
2
SO
4
exhibited a positive influence on hemimorphite sulfidation flotation. It was ascribed to the number of zinc components in the form of Zn
2+
and [Zn(NH
3
)
i
]
2+
(
i
= 1–4) increased in the flotation system after hemimorphite treatment with (NH
4
)
2
SO
4
, which was beneficial to its interaction with sulfur species in solution, resulting in a dense and stable zinc sulfide layer generated on the hemimorphite surface. [Zn(NH
3
)
i
]
2+
participated in the sulfidation reaction of hemimorphite as a transition state. In addition, the sulfidation reaction of hemimorphite was accelerated by (NH
4
)
2
SO
4
. Thus, (NH
4
)
2
SO
4
presents a vital role in promoting the sulfidation of hemimorphite.