Modified hydroxamate collectors for kaolin flotation

Abstract Reverse flotation has emerged as one of the most efficient beneficiation process for removing discolored impurities, mainly titanium and iron-containing minerals, from kaolin. In kaolin flotation, tall oil has been traditionally used as the collector. This requires activation of the discolored impurities with metal ion (i.e., Ca 2+ ) to enhance tall oil adsorption. On the other hand, hydroxamates have been demonstrated to be more effective and do not require an activation step. In this study, the flotation performance of a series of newly developed hydroxamate collectors was evaluated on different crude clays from Georgia, USA. These new modified hydroxamates provide improved properties and performance over the standard tall oil collector and the current commercially available hydroxamate collector (Aero Promoter 6493) used in the kaolin industry.