Evaluation of hematite and quartz flotation kinetics using surfactant produced by Rhodococcus erythropolis as bioreagent

Abstract The use of biosurfactants as reagents represents a promising alternative to the conventional surfactants used in the mineral industry because they may present low toxicity and high biodegradability. Therefore, this research studied the hematite and quartz flotation kinetics using surfactant produced by Rhodococcus erythropolis as bioreagent. The flotation kinetics of both minerals were evaluated under established conditions: biosurfactant concentration of 10 mg/L and solution pH of 3. The maximum floatability values were of 99.98% and 17.53% for hematite and quartz, respectively, after 2 minutes of flotation. Finally, the kinetics study indicated that the experimental data of hematite floatability was better fitted to both the first and non-integral order kinetics, while the experimental data of quartz floatability was better fitted to the non-integral order kinetic.

摘要 生物表面活性剂（biosurfactants）作为选矿工业中传统表面活性剂的极具前景的替代试剂，因其具备低毒性与高生物降解性的优势。为此，本研究采用由红球菌（Rhodococcus erythropolis）制备的表面活性剂作为生物试剂，开展了赤铁矿与石英的浮选动力学（flotation kinetics）研究。本研究在既定实验条件下，即生物表面活性剂浓度为10 mg/L、溶液pH值为3的条件下，对两种矿物的浮选动力学进行了评价。浮选2分钟后，赤铁矿与石英的最大可浮性分别达到99.98%与17.53%。最后，动力学分析结果表明，赤铁矿可浮性的实验数据同时适配一级动力学（first-order kinetics）与非整数级动力学（non-integral order kinetics）模型，而石英可浮性的实验数据则更贴合非整数级动力学模型。