Copper oxide minerals often require fine grinding to liberate them from gangue minerals, but overgrinding during industrial milling can result in their loss during flotation. This study investigates the use of triethanolamine (TEA) as a cost-effective and low-polluting modifier to enhance the recovery of fine malachite. The flotation tests of an oxide copper ore indicated that TEA modification increased the total copper recovery of concentrate by 17.69 % and the copper recovery in the fraction with particle sizes <30 μm by 6.59 %. The modified fine malachite (<38 μm) achieved a maximum recovery of over 82 % in terms of malachite micro-flotation. Zeta potential measurements and adsorption tests confirmed that TEA increased the surface potential and the number of active sites, enhancing the S ion chemisorption. Solution chemistry, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy analysis revealed that the predominant Cu − TEA complex was Cu(TEA)(OH), which exhibited high reactivity with S ions and increased the amounts of Cu(I) sulfides and polysulfides in the form of flakes and micro-globular precipitates on the fine malachite surfaces. These precipitates increased the distribution density of hydrophobic Cu(I)-xanthate upon xanthate addition, based on a microscopic Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy investigation. The findings suggest that TEA exhibits significant potential for enhancing the surface sulfidization and xanthate flotation of fine copper oxide ores for industrial applications.

中文翻译：

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提高细孔雀石颗粒回收率：三乙醇胺增强表面硫化和黄原酸盐吸附


氧化铜矿物通常需要精细研磨以将其从脉石矿物中分离出来，但工业研磨过程中的过度研磨可能会导致它们在浮选过程中损失。本研究探讨了使用三乙醇胺（TEA）作为一种经济有效且低污染的改性剂来提高细孔雀石的回收率。某氧化铜矿的浮选试验表明，TEA改性后精矿总铜回收率提高了17.69%，粒径<30μm级分铜回收率提高了6.59%。改性细孔雀石（<38μm）在孔雀石微浮选方面最大回收率超过82%。 Zeta 电位测量和吸附测试证实，TEA 增加了表面电位和活性位点数量，增强了 S 离子的化学吸附。溶液化学、X射线光电子能谱和扫描电子显微镜分析表明，主要的Cu-TEA络合物是Cu(TEA)(OH)，它与S离子表现出高反应性，并增加了Cu(I)硫化物和多硫化物的量在细小的孔雀石表面上以薄片和微球状沉淀物的形式存在。根据显微傅立叶变换红外光谱研究，这些沉淀物增加了黄原酸盐添加后疏水性 Cu(I)-黄原酸盐的分布密度。研究结果表明，TEA 在增强工业应用中细粒氧化铜矿石的表面硫化和黄药浮选方面表现出巨大的潜力。