Up to now, there is still a great challenge to efficiently separate magnesite from calcium-bearing carbonate minerals, especially dolomite, via froth flotation owing to their similar physicochemical properties. In this investigation, a novel depressant adenosine 5′-triphosphate disodium salt (Na₂ATP) was introduced into the flotation process using the collector sodium oleate (NaOl), which was proved to be effective for the separation of dolomite and magnesite. The flotation results demonstrate that Na₂ATP exhibits a more intense depression on the flotation of dolomite than that of magnesite and can separate effectively magnesite from dolomite, which depends on much less NaOl adsorption onto dolomite in the presence of Na₂ATP. Zeta-potential detection and adsorption amount tests illustrate that the pre-addition of Na₂ATP strongly interferes with the interaction between NaOl and dolomite so that a more significant reduction in adsorption of NaOl on the surface of dolomite in comparison with magnesite. Moreover, infrared spectral (IR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements further confirm that the depressant Na₂ATP is adsorbed more strongly onto dolomite than magnesite. And the selective adsorption of Na₂ATP onto dolomite rather than magnesite was mainly due to the strong bonding of its phosphate groups and the calcium sites only exposed to the dolomite surface, resulting in selectively depressing the flotation of dolomite.

迄今为止，由于其相似的理化性质，如何通过泡沫浮选有效地将菱镁矿与含钙碳酸盐矿物，特别是白云石分离，仍然是一个巨大的挑战。在这项研究中，使用捕收剂油酸钠（NaOl）将一种新型的抑制性腺苷5'-三磷酸二钠二钠盐（Na ₂ ATP）引入浮选工艺，事实证明该分离剂可有效分离白云石和菱镁矿。浮选结果表明，Na ₂ ATP比白云母浮选时对白云石的压降更为强烈，并且可以有效地将菱镁矿与白云石分离，这取决于在存在Na ₂的情况下更少的NaOl吸附到白云石上ATP。ζ电势检测和吸附量测试表明，预先添加的Na ₂ ATP强烈干扰了NaOl与白云石之间的相互作用，因此与菱镁矿相比，NaOl在白云石表面的吸附降低得更多。此外，红外光谱（IR）和X射线光电子能谱（XPS）测量进一步证实，抑制剂Na ₂ ATP比菱镁矿更牢固地吸附在白云石上。Na ₂ ATP选择性吸附在白云石上而不是菱镁矿上主要是由于其磷酸盐基团的牢固键合以及仅暴露于白云石表面的钙位，从而选择性地抑制了白云石的浮选。