Sulphosuccinamate collectors

The sulphosuccinamate collector was extremely effective in flotation of rutile, as well as ilmenite and zircon from a fine sand deposit. Laboratory testing conducted on Wimmera heavy mineral sand from Australia indicated that the use of sulphosuccinamate achieved a high titanium recovery in the bulk cleaner concentrate. Table 25.4 shows the results obtained on the Wimmera heavy mineral sand. The sand was scrubbed and deslimed before flotation. Between 90% and 95% Ti02 was recovered using a 60g/t addition of succina-mate collector. 

The chemistry of cassiterite flotation has been a subject of considerable research for many years. The findings that sulphosuccinamates, phosphonic acid and arsonic acid were selective collectors for cassiterite flotation lead to the introduction of flotation as a complementary recovery process to gravity concentration at most primary tin mill concentrators in the early 1970s. In spite of continued research, subsequent progress in development has been rather limited. Cassiterite flotation still remains a secondary tin recovery process in most plants, for beneficiation of cassiterite below 40 pm size. 

More recently, studies were undertaken to recover tin from gravity tailings at the San Rafael tin mine in Peru. During these studies, a highly effective collector mixture [5] consisting of succinamate phosphoric ester and sodiumhylenesulponate was established. This mixture was more effective than sulphosuccinamate alone, or arsonic acid. 

The sulphosuccinamate surfactants were first synthesized by American Cyanamid Company (currently Cytec, USA) in the late 1940s. Later in 1968, the alkyl sulphosuccinamate [10] was patented as a flotation collector. 

The sulphosuccinamate surfactants CA540 (Allied Chemical, USA) and 845 (Cytec) both contain four dissociable groups, three carboxylate and one sulphonate. Both collectors contain impurities such as dodecyl amine, maleic acid derivative and residual alcohols. This may explain the quite strong frothing properties of these collectors. 

With respect to collectors, in the late 1970s arsonic acid was first replaced with styrene phosphonic acid, and in the early 1980s with sulphosuccinamate (CA540, Allied Chemicals). Best results were achieved using styrene phosphonic acid. 

Development work was carried out with different collectors. At the end, N-( 1,2 dicar-boxy ethyl)-/ octadecil sulphosuccinamate emulsified with fuel oil in a ratio of 8 1 was the final collector. The flotation flowsheet is shown in Figure 21.2. The final tin flotation reagent scheme included collector R845 (Cytec) emulsified with fuel oil as a tin collector (890 g/t) H2S04 for pH control citric acid (200 g/t) andNa2SiF6 (450 g/t). 

Collector PL520 is composed of dialkyl sulphosuccinamate (R845) and a mixture of phosphoric acid ester (SMI5) modified with fatty alcohol ester sulphate in a ratio of 60 20 20. 

Limited research work has been conducted on these ores, but have indicated that REO cannot be recovered using either fatty acid or sodium oleate. It was, however, found that a mixture of sulphosuccinamate and phosphate ester modified with alkylsulphate can recover REO and zircon efficiently. Figure 24.5 shows the effect of above collector mixture (KBX3) on REO recovery from complex RE0-Zr02 ores. Oxalic acid and fatty acid (FA3) were not so effective compared to collector KBX3. 

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