Application of compositions of surfactants in extraction of silica-bearing components

The study aims to solve the problem of low efficiency in flotation of silica-bearing components (quartz, silicates) from mineral raw materials (hematite quartzite, borogypsum). This inefficiency is conditioned by weak selectivity of conventional collectors and by high consumption of reagents. The objective of the study is to reveal the features of modification of collectors through composing acetates of prime amines with surfactants of various nature. A procedure is proposed for selecting modifiers and determining their contents in the collecting mixture on the basis of a ratio of adsorptions centers on inhomogeneous surface in extractable portion of flotation feed. The influence of surfactants and their mixes on wetting of mineral surfaces of quartz and hematite is investigated. The experiments show the advantage of the proposed compositions over the basic substances in extraction of silica-bearing components, both crystalline and amorphous, in flotation. In direct flotation of quartz in hematite quartzite, the use of the composition of prime amine acetates and triethanol salts of fat acids enabled reduction of total SiO2 in middlings to 24.9% and the increased recovery to 77.3%, with the decreased content of iron-bearing impurities in froth product. In reverse flotation of silica-bearing components from borogypsum, the composition of prime amine acetates and tall oil soap ensured production of a concentrate with total SiO2 content of 61.8% (including 50.9% amorphous) at the reagent consumption reduced by 3 times and at the recovery ratio of 42.6%.

Gorodov A. I., Pavlenko V. I., Yastrebinsky R. N., Gorodov S. I., Shapovalov N. А. Application of compositions of surfactants in extraction of silica-bearing components. MIAB. Mining Inf. Anal. Bull. 2026;(4):120-135. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.25018/0236_1493_2026_4_0_120.

The study was carried out under contract with the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation, Contract No. FZWN-2023-0004, using equipment of the High-Tech Center at the Shukhov Belgorod State Technological University. 

A.I. Gorodov¹, Cand. Sci. (Eng.), Assistant Professor, e-mail: gorodov-andreyy@mail.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0002-5530-3282,
V.I. Pavlenko¹, Dr. Sci. (Eng.), Professor, Head of Chair, e-mail: belpavlenko@mail.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0002-3464-1880,
R.N. Yastrebinsky¹, Dr. Sci. (Eng.), Director of the Institute of Chemical Technology, e-mail: yrndo@mail.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0002-6413-0002,
S.I. Gorodov¹, Graduate Student, e-mail: serg5254325@rambler.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0003-2570-7195,
N.А. Shapovalov¹, Dr. Sci. (Eng.), Professor, Professor, e-mail: shap.bstu@yandex.ru, ORCID ID: 0000-0003-4624-3385, 
¹ Belgorod state technological university named after V.G. Shukhov, 308012, Belgorod, Russia. 

A.I. Gorodov, e-mail: gorodov-andreyy@mail.ru.

1. Bortnikov N. S., Volkov A. V., Galyamov A. L., Vikentiev I. V., Lalomov A. V., Murashov K. Yu. Fundamental problems of development of the mineral resource base of high-tech industry and energy in Russia. Geology of Ore Deposits. 2022, vol. 64, no. 6, pp. 617—633. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.31857/S0016777022060028. 

2. Shapovalov N. A., Krayniy A. A., Gorodov A. I., Makuschenko I. S. Study of the influence of different kinds of collectors and depressant flotation iron-containing minerals Mikhailovsky deposit. The Fundamental researches. 2014, no. 9-2, pp. 318—323. [In Russ].

3. Khatkova A., Nikitina L., Pateyuk S. Use of borogypsum as secondary raw. 14th International Congress for Applied Mineralogy (ICAM2019) Belgorod State Technological University named after V.G. Shukhov, Belgorod, 2019, pp. 90—93. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-22974-0_20.

4. Fang J., Ge Y., Chen Z., Xing B., Bao S., Yong Q., Chi R., Yang S., Ni. B. J. Flotation purification of waste high-silica phosphogypsum. Journal of Environmental Management. 2022, vol. 320, article 115824. DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.115824.

5. Semyanova D. V. Collecting agents in flotation. Mining sciences: fundamental and applied issues. 2024, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 30—36. [In Russ]. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.15372/FPVGN2024110105. 

6. Gorodov A. I., Shapovalov N. A. Colloidal chemical effect of a mixture of anionic and cationic surfactants on mineral particles. Scientific and Technical Volga region Bulletin. 2018, no. 10, pp. 31—34. [In Russ].

7. Morozov V. V., Barmin I. S., Tugolukov A. V., Polivanskaya V. V. Improvement of flotation efficiency of apatite-bearing ore and old tailings based on adjustment of aggregative stability of slimes. Gornyi Zhurnal. 2019, no. 1, pp. 56—61. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.17580/gzh.2019.01.12. 

8. Krayniy A. A. Flotation of dump tails of wet magnetic separation of non-oxidized ferruginous quartzites. Bulletin of BSTU named after V.G. Shukhov. 2013, no. 5, pp. 156—159. [In Russ].

9. Mitrofanova G. V., Pospelova Yu. P., Sedinin D. F. Processibility of fine-grained magnetite-apatite ore mill tailings at kovdor deposit. Journal of Mining Sciences. 2023, no. 5, pp. 123—131. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.15372/FTPRPI20230513.

10. Urazova Yu. V., Tiunov M. Yu., Fedotov E. N., Chikin A. Yu. Study of the mechanism of interaction of fatty acid collectors with the surface of calcium-containing tungsten minerals. Minerals and Mining Engineering. 2024, no. 1, pp. 74—83. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.21440/0536-1028-2024-1-74-83.

11. Gorodov A. I., Shapovalov N. A., Poluektova V. A., Mogutova A. A. Investigation of sorption properties of a composite collector on a mineral surface. Herald of technological university. 2021, vol. 24, no. 11, pp. 19—24. [In Russ].

12. Zo T. H., Kolesnikov V. A., Kon’kova T. V., Hein T. A., Kolesnikov A. V. Extraction of aluminum hydroxide from aqueous chloride solutions in the presence of hardness salts and surfactants of various nature. Russian Journal of Applied Chemistry. 2021, vol. 94, no. 9, pp. 1138—1144. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.31857/S0044461821090036.

13. Vidyadhar A., Rao K. H. Adsorption mechanism of mixed cationic/anionic collectors in feldspar-quartz flotation system. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science. 2007, vol. 306, no. 2, pp. 195—204. DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2006.10.047.

14. He Y.-H., Sun Q., Xing H., Wu Y., Xiao J.-X. Cationic — anionic fluorinated surfactant mixtures based on short fluorocarbon chains as potential aqueous film-forming foam. Journal of Dispersion Science and Technology. 2018, vol. 40, no. 3, pp. 1—13. DOI: 10.1080/01932691.2018.1468262.

15. Zhang R., Xing Y., Xia Y., Guo F., Ding S., Tan J., Che T., Meng F., Gui X. Synergistic adsorption mechanism of anionic and cationic surfactant mixtures on low-rank coal flotation. ACS Omega. 2020, vol. 5, pp. 20630—20637. DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.0c02948.

16. Wang Y., Zhu G., Yu F., Lu D., Wang L., Zhao Y., Zheng H. Improving spodumene flotation using a mixed cationic and anionic collector. Physicochemical Problems of Mineral Processing. 2018, no. 54, no. 2, pp. 567—577. DOI: 10.5277/ppmp1861.

17. Shojaeimehr T., Schwarze M., Tupinamba Lima M., Schomäcker R. Correlation of performance data of silica particle flotations and foaming properties of cationic and nonionic surfactants for the development of selection criteria for flotation auxiliaries. Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects. 2022, vol. 649, article 129159. DOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfa.2022.129159.

18. Muhoza E., Zhang W., Hassan Amini S. Systematic investigation on bastnaesite flotation in the presence of dissolved calcium ions using organic acids as chelating agents. Minerals Engineering. 2024, vol. 218, article 108977. DOI: 10.1016/j.mineng.2024.108977.

19. Zeng L., Ding K., Zhang X., Zhou Y., Han H. New insights into the influence of mineral surface transformation on the flotation behavior of anhydrite/apatite. Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects. 2024, vol. 685, article 133215. DOI: 10.1016/j.colsurfa.2024.133215.

20. Park J., Pasaogullari U., Bonville L. Wettability measurements of irregular shapes with Wilhelmy plate method. Applied Surface Science. 2018, vol. 427, no. B, pp. 273—280. DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2017.08.186.

21. Park J., Ulsh M., Mauger S. A. Solvent absorption rate of perfluorosulphonic acid membranes towards understanding direct coating processes. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. 2021, vol. 46, no. 59, pp. 30239—30245. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2021.06.168.

22. Součková M., Klomfar J., Pátek J. Temperature dependence of the surface tension and 0.1 MPa density for 1-Cn-3-methylimidazolium tris(pentafluoroethyl)trifluorophosphate with n = 2, 4, and 6. The Journal of Chemical Thermodynamics. 2012, vol. 48, pp. 267—275. DOI: 10.1016/j.jct.2011.12.033. 

23. Gorodov A. I., Shapovalov N. A. Study of a composition of anionic and cationic surfactants as a collector for flotation separation of nepheline. Butlerov Communications. 2018, vol. 55, no. 9, pp. 48—57. [In Russ].

24. Gerasimenko T. E., Rubayeva I. O., Maksimov R. N., Vasiliev V. V. Peculiarities of poly disperse particle interaction in gold micro dispersions flotation processes. Sustainable Development of Mountain Territories. 2023, vol. 15, no. 1, pp. 97—113. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.21177/1998-4502-2023-15-1-97-113.

25. Khat'kova A. N., Nikitina L. G., Pateyuk S. A., Cherkasov V. G. Borogypsum: mineral composition, processing technology. Vestnik of Geosciences. 2020, no. 3(303), pp. 22—27. [In Russ]. DOI: 10.19110/geov.2020.3.3.