Effect of Ether Mono Amine Collector on the Cationic Flotation of Micaceous Minerals—A Comparative Study

Micaceous minerals, known as layer silicates, are counted mostly as the gangue minerals associated with valuable minerals, especially iron oxides. They mainly reject through the reverse flotation process using the cationic collectors, e.g., ether amines, to improve process sustainability. Although ether amines have been applied for floating the wide range of silicates, few investigations explored their adsorption behaviors on the micaceous minerals. In this study, flotation of phlogopite, biotite, and quartz (for comparison purposes) in the presence of Flotigam®EDA (EDA) (commercial ether monoamine collector), at pH 10 was investigated through the single mineral micro–flotation experiments. Adsorption behaviors were explored by the contact angle, residual surface tension measurements, and zeta potential analyses. Micro–flotation outcomes indicated that the quartz floatability was more than phlogopite and biotite. In the presence of 30 mg/dm3 EDA, their recoveries were 97.1, 46.3, and 63.8%, respectively. Increasing EDA concentration made a substantial increase in micaceous minerals’ floatability. Adsorption assessments confirmed that increasing the EDA concentration resulted in higher adsorption of EDA onto the surface of micaceous minerals than the quartz (all by physical adsorption). Such a behavior could be related to the nature of micaceous minerals, including their layer structure and low hardness