Non-polar oil assisted DDA flotation of quartz II: Effect of different polarity oil components on the flotation of quartz

Abstract

It is well accepted that non-polar oils can be used as collector extender in oil agglomeration flotation of many different types of mineral. In this paper, in order to study the influences of oil structures on the non-polar oil assisted dodecylamine (DDA) flotation of quartz, the research focuses on the interaction of DDA (collector) and non-polar oil (collector extender) in aqueous phase. In this work, saturated hydrocarbon dodecane and cyclohexane, unsaturated hydrocarbon dodecene, aromatic hydrocarbon dimethylbenzene and 1-methylnaphthalene were chosen as researched subjects, and the influences of oil structures on interfacial activity of oil–DDA–water ternary models were investigated by experimental and theoretical methods. The flotation results demonstrated that the collecting capability of the oil and DDA combination follows the order of 1-methylnaphthalene > dimethylbenzene > dodecene > cyclohexane > dodecane. Moreover, molecular dynamic (MD) simulation is performed to investigate the interfacial property of these five non-polar oil-DDA-water systems, and five parameters, radial distribution functions, interaction energy, density distribution, interfacial thickness and self-diffusion coefficient are proposed to reveal the influence mechanism of molecular structure on interfacial activity of the ternary oil-DDA-water systems. The same trends are obtained from the parameters described above, aromatic hydrocarbon dimethylbenzene and 1-methylnaphthalene performance better than saturate hydrocarbon and unsaturated hydrocarbon. The researched results indicate the interaction between non-polar oil and DDA hydrophobic alkyl tail would enhance the mobility of oil component, which induce significant change of interfacial thickness and diffusivity. Additionally, the interaction between DDA hydrophilic head group and water molecules via strong hydrogen bonds, van der Waals interactions and weak electrostatic attraction would lead to water molecules penetrate through DDA monolayer and adsorb on oil surface. The researches enable us to obtain a deeper microscopic-level understanding of the interaction between oil-DDA-water ternary components, and maybe have some references for designing of oil-assisted flotation agent.