Criteria for a surfactant to be used sequentially as a grinding aid and collector

Abstract In this study, the grinding and flotation of quartz were conducted in the presence of either a quaternary amine (QA) as a cationic surfactant or sodium dodecyl sulfonate (SDS) as an anionic surfactant. Both reagents were investigated to determine their suitability for sequential use as a grinding aid and a flotation collector. The results showed that although SDS was not an effective collector for quartz, it performed better than QA as a grinding aid. In contrast, the quaternary amine is efficient in both grinding and flotation. The effectiveness of SDS as a grinding aid is attributed to its ability to provide higher dispersion, which allows direct particle-grinding ball collisions to result in better grinding. However, the contamination of the quartz surface by cations, such as iron, which are predominantly present in a grinding mill, increases the floatability of quartz when SDS is used at the expense of its effectiveness as a grinding aid, as the dispersion becomes minimal. On the other hand, while the chemical affinity of QA to the quartz surface improves its flotation performance but slightly reduces the dispersion status.