Effects of temperature during ultrasonic conditioning in quartz-amine flotation

In this study, the effect of ultrasound on flotation recovery of quartz-amine flotation was investigated in terms of temperature influence. For this purpose, an ultrasonic probe was used for conditioning quartz surfaces in presence of dodecylamine hydrochloride (DAH), and the change in the temperature was recorded. The temperature-controlled ultrasonic conditioning tests were also carried out at various ultrasonic powers (30, 90, and 150 W) to investigate the effect of increasing temperature on the quartz-DAH flotation. The results showed that temperature of the suspension sharply increased from 23 up to 75 °C at the end of 10 min of conditioning at 150 W ultrasonic power. The flotation results for the temperature controlled and uncontrolled samples indicated that the flotation recovery increased from 45 to 65% by 90 W ultrasonic power. However, higher ultrasonic power levels affected the flotation recovery negatively. On the other hand, the ultrasonic application decreased the flotation recovery at all ultrasonic power levels in the temperature-controlled tests. Finally, the shape analysis was also performed for the particles treated with the ultrasound at various ultrasonic powers. As a conclusion, the positive effect of ultrasound on the quartz-amine flotation recovery could be related to temperature increase during conditioning