A novel molybdenite depressant for efficient selective flotation separation of chalcopyrite and molybdenite

A novel small molecule depressant (M-DEP) was used to separate chalcopyrite and molybdenite via flotation. The results showed that M-DEP had an excellent selective depression on molybdenite, while had little effect on the flotation of chalcopyrite. The adsorption capacity of M-DEP on the surface of molybdenite was greater than that on chalcopyrite surface. The adsorption of M-DEP reduced the floatability of molybdenite and had less effect on the floatability of chalcopyrite, which was due to its different adsorption modes on the surface of the two minerals. Furthermore, the interaction between chalcopyrite and M-DEP was mainly chemical interaction, and almost all of the adsorbed M-DEP molecules were removed and replaced by sodium butyl xanthate (SBX). By contrast, hydrophobic interaction was the main way in which M-DEP was adsorbed on the molybdenite surface with little chemical interaction, which was less interfered by SBX addition. Therefore, M-DEP had a super selective depression on molybdenite. The study provided a novel depressant and approach for the deep separation of chalcopyrite and molybdenite via flotation.