α-Amino Phosphonic Acid as the Oxidized Ore Collector: Flexible Intra-Molecular Proton Transfer Providing an Improved Flotation Efficiency

The efficient separation of ilmenite is a difficult problem in minerals flotation. For this issue, α-aminooctyl phosphinic acid (APA) was developed as selective collector to separate ilmenite. flotation test result showed that APA more for improving recovery compared with octylphosphonic (OPA). Adsorption, ZETA and FTIR measurements proved the chemical interaction between surface stronger than OPA, while completely opposite case titanaugite. Moreover, XPS DFT calculations indicated coordinated through P-O-Fe P-O-Ti bonding. amine group α-site phosphonyl facilitated be stable zwitterion solution, which greatly enhanced nucleophilicity phosphonic group. On other hand, appropriate coordination energy another reason superior collecting selectivity OPA.