Flotation evaluation and adsorption mechanism of medialan collector to wolframite

Medialan has preferable flotation performance to wolframite, under the conditions of the best flotation pH value 7.0 and low dosage, wolframite recovery is up to 80 %. Medialan shows poor flotation performance to quartz, but better to fluorite and calcite. However, fluorite and calcite are inhibited in a certain degree by adding medialan mixed with sodium silicate. Adsorption mechanism of medialan collector on wolfram surface was also studied by using infrared (IR) radiation spectrum, adsorption volume, and zeta potential. The results show that medialan can adsorb on wolfram surface in the form of chemistry adsorption, and as medialan collector dosage changes, change law of adsorption volume is similar with that of wolfram pure mineral flotation. Zeta potential results prove that zeta potential of wolfram surface moves negatively after adsorbing medialan collector.