Desorption and/or Reuse of Collectors in Mineral Flotation

A special issue of Minerals (ISSN 2075-163X). This special issue belongs to the section "Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2025 | Viewed by 1219

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, China
Interests: flotation; water treatment; comprehensive utilization of tailings

E-Mail
Guest Editor
Arkema-ArrMaz, R&D Mining Lab, Mulberry, FL 33860, USA
Interests: surface chemistry; water treatment; mineral processing; froth flotation; dust control

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Minerals Processing Division, Mintek, Randburg 2125, South Africa
2. Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, 1 Jan Smuts Ave., Johannesburg 2000, South Africa
Interests: mineral processing; flotation cells; hydrodynamics; solid–fluid dynamics; energy; sustainability; modelling; mining; coarse flotation; fine particles; bubble; image processing; gravity separation; flotation; attachment and detachment
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail
Guest Editor
School of Civil and Resource Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
Interests: flotation; bioleaching; waste management

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Flotation is the most important method for processing mineral resources. In the flotation process, one part of the collector is adsorbed on the surface of the target mineral through physical/chemical interaction to make it float up into a concentrate, and the other part remains in the tailings pulp to form wastewater. The collector on the surface of the flotation concentrate will reduce the concentrate concentration/filtration efficiency and the hydrometallurgical leaching efficiency, increase the metal loss of the concentrate, and need to be removed and discarded before metallurgical operation. The collector in the tailings pulp will cause organic wastewater pollution, reducing the tailing settlement and wastewater recycling efficiency.

Therefore, this Special Issue will focus on the desorption and/or reuse of flotation collectors, including desorption and/or reuse methods, equipment, etc. The collector desorption and reuse on the surface of the concentrate will simplify the metallurgical process, improve the efficiency of concentrate hydrometallurgy, and reduce the cost of reagent in dressing plants. The simple treatment and reuse of the collector in the tailing pulp will reduce the cost of reagent and wastewater treatment in dressing plants and realize the recycling of wastewater. Relevant topics include but are not limited to the desorption and/or reuse of collectors in flotation of metal and non-metal minerals, the treatment and reuse of wastewater, solid–liquid separation, further treatment of flotation concentrate, etc. Original research papers, technical papers, and critical reviews featuring advances in the desorption and/or reuse of collectors are all welcome.

Dr. Jianjun Wang
Dr. Yuesheng Gao
Dr. Mehdi Safari
Dr. Hao Zhang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Minerals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • flotation
  • collector
  • desorption
  • reuse
  • wastewater treatment
  • solid–liquid separation

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

  • Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
  • Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
  • Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
  • External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
  • e-Book format: Special Issues with more than 10 articles can be published as dedicated e-books, ensuring wide and rapid dissemination.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

12 pages, 4751 KiB  
Article
Investigation of Appropriate Collector Selection for Hematite Removal from Pyrolusite and the Adsorption Mechanism on the Crystal Surface
by Yuhang Shi, Nan Nan, Baoxu Song, Fangyuan Ma, Jiquan Han, Enming Huang, Shuai Wang, Guang Yang and Lan Zhou
Minerals 2024, 14(12), 1300; https://doi.org/10.3390/min14121300 - 23 Dec 2024
Viewed by 731
Abstract
This study examined the appropriate hematite (Fe2O3) collector for the concentration of pyrolusite (MnO2) in a reverse flotation. Actual ore flotation studies were performed to determine how sodium oleate, sodium dodecyl sulfonate, and oxidized paraffin soap affect [...] Read more.
This study examined the appropriate hematite (Fe2O3) collector for the concentration of pyrolusite (MnO2) in a reverse flotation. Actual ore flotation studies were performed to determine how sodium oleate, sodium dodecyl sulfonate, and oxidized paraffin soap affect hematite removal during reverse flotation of pyrolusite ore. In order to explore the flotation mechanism, simulation experiments were carried out. Firstly, the crystal models of pyrolusite and hematite were established. Then, in order to verify the reliability of the simulation results, the simulated XRD spectra of the crystal model were compared with the measured spectra. Finally, density functional theory and molecular dynamics modeling were used to study the interaction between collector molecules and mineral surfaces. The flotation test results show that oxidized paraffin soap is the best hematite collector and promotes its flotation, removing iron from pyrolusite. Molecular dynamics simulations and density functional theory show that the three collectors (oxidized paraffin soap, sodium oleate, and sodium dodecyl sulfonate) have a much stronger interaction with hematite than with pyrolusite. Therefore, it is possible to separate pyrolusite and hematite through flotation. The simulation results also show that oxidized paraffin soap has the highest adsorption strength and selectivity for hematite. This characteristic makes oxidized paraffin soap an excellent collector for effectively removing hematite from pyrolusite in the reverse flotation process. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Desorption and/or Reuse of Collectors in Mineral Flotation)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop