Minerophilic group

With non-polar minerals such as talc, mica and coal, the particle surfaces can interact with the non-polar portion of the molecules by van der Waals force. In this case, hydrocarbon portions can function as mineralophilic groups. Except in the case of depressants or some flocculants, the non-polar portions of long hydrocarbon chains in flotation agents possess only the framework formed from C-H groups with linking to polar hydrophilic and minerophilic groups [4]. 

Application of flotation agents and their structure-property relationships Minerophilic group... 

Fig. 5.3. Structure of minerophilic group of xanthate as collector for sulfides.

I.I. Relationship between the structure of the minerophilic group and its adsorption on mineral surface... 

Major minerophilic groups in collector molecules are listed in Table 5.2. The common bonding atoms in minerophilic groups are O, N, P and S which can be combined with C, P, As, Cl and Br elements to form many functional groups. 

Interactions between the collector and the mineral surface are usually through these bonding atoms in the minerophilic groups and surface atoms (metallic ions) of the mineral crystal lattice. This will result in chemisorption or surface reactions discussed in Chapter 4. Characteristics of these bonding atoms as summarized by Nagaraj [3] are listed in Table 5.3. 

Considering the chemical affinity of atoms or ions and the resultant characteristic of minerals, constituent elements of minerals are classified in geochemistry into three categories as shown in Table 5.4. Affinity of bonding atoms in minerophilic groups to metallic ions on minerals are summarized in Table 5.5 [6]. 

Solubility products of collector-metallic ion compounds (see Appendix C) suggest that the sulfide mineral collectors such as xanthates, mercaptans and thiophosphates containing sulfur bonding atom in the minerophilic group can form compounds of low solubility products with ions of elements with affinity for copper(II). They can not form insoluble... 

Induction effect between atoms in minerophilic groups... 

Induction effect in molecule of thionocarbamates Structure of the minerophilic group of thionocarbamate is shown as follows ... 

Desorption of collector molecules from the mineral surface can occur only by overcoming not only aliinity of the minerophilic group to the surface, but also the above forces associated with the chains. Thus the affinity of the collector to the mineral surface is also dependent on the stmcture of the non-polar groups. 

The minerophilic groups of various collectors may also be used as depressants as in, for example ... 

Minerophilic groups of organic flocculants can be classified into the following four categories based on the interaction forces of minerophilic groups with particle surface. 

It is essential to maintain a proper balance among the three basic groups (hydrophobic, hydrophilic and minerophilic) in the molecules so as to get the desired collector, frother,... 

The bonding characteristics determine the properties of the minerophilic and hydrophilic groups. The selectivity of the mineral-reagent interactions can be estimated using a bonding criterion. 

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