Insights into the depression effect and adsorption mechanism of HACC on chalcopyrite surface in Cu-Mo flotation separation

In this study, hydroxypropyltrimethyl ammonium chloride chitosan (HACC) was first introduced as a depressant during separating chalcopyrite from molybdenite (Cu-Mo). The selective effects of HACC on the separation of Cu-Mo were conducted by single-mineral flotation tests. The findings revealed that HACC helps separate Cu and Mo efficiently at pH 6 with 8 mg/L of HACC, resulting in 76.22% and 5.38% of Mo and Cu recovery, respectively. The adsorption mechanism of HACC was investigated via Zeta potential, adsorption density, contact angle, FT-IR and XPS analysis. The contact angle and adsorption density measurements offer indisputable proof that HACC can adsorb on the surface of chalcopyrite. Furthermore, FT-IR and XPS measurements confirm that N atoms in quaternary ammonium groups of HACC interact with Cu sites on the surface of chalcopyrite. The findings also suggest that HACC adsorbs on the surface without significantly impacting molybdenite. All these results confirm that HACC can be an effective chalcopyrite depressant.