Selective flotation of chalcopyrite from galena using a novel collector benzoic diethylcarbamothioic thioanhydride: An experimental and theoretical investigation

The flotation separation of chalcopyrite and galena has always been the focus of production. Benzoic diethylcarbamothioic thioanhydride (BDT) is a novel chelating collector that has shown a certain application strength in the field of sulfide ore flotation. In this research, micro-flotation tests, zeta potential tests, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy measurements, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements, and density functional theory (DFT) calculations were used to investigate the selective recovery and selective adsorption of BDT on chalcopyrite and galena. The flotation results showed that BDT had good flotation selectivity for chalcopyrite and galena, which achieved up to 96.67 % and 50.26 %, respectively, at pH 6 using a collector dosage of 100 g/t. The analysis of the adsorption mechanism showed that CS and CO in BDT are mainly involved in the adsorption process. On the surface of chalcopyrite, CS and CO can form a six-membered chelating ring with Fe or Cu sites. BDT can also be adsorbed on the surface of galena in the same way, but the adsorption strength is weaker than that on the surface of chalcopyrite.