Froth flotation separation of spodumene ore using (E)-octadec-9-enoylglycine as the flotation collector

• A novel collector OEG was synthesized in our lab • OEG was introduced as an efficient collector of spodumene flotation • OEG has better collecting ability and selectivity than traditional collector OA • Using less dosage OEG obtained a higher quality spodumene concentrate Effectively separating complexly associated spodumene from calcium-bearing gangue minerals presents significant challenges when using conventional oleate (OA) collectors, primarily due to their limited selectivity and versatility. A novel collector, (E)-octadec-9-enoylglycine (OEG), was developed to enhance the flotation-based separation of spodumene ore and was compared with the conventional collector, sodium oleate (OA). Experimental findings showed that flotation performed optimally at pH 12, with ideal dosages of 400 g/t for OEG and 600 g/t for OA. The application of the new collector OEG in bench-scale flotation tests at two-thirds the dosage of the conventional collector OA (820 g/t vs. 1230 g/t) led to an 11.09% improvement in spodumene recovery.