Fine serpentine can form slimes coating on sulfide surface, which worsens sulfide flotation. To solve this problem, in this study, the effect of citric acid (CA) on the flotation separation of pyrite from serpentine and its mechanisms were systematically investigated. Micro-flotation results showed that the serpentine with −10 µm fraction had a significant depression effect on pyrite flotation. However, the utilization of CA could efficiently limit the adverse effect of serpentine on pyrite flotation with an increase of pyrite recovery from 16% to 95%. The results of adsorption, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) indicated that CA could adsorb on serpentine surface, which might be caused by the chelation between the carboxyl groups in CA and the magnesium species on serpentine surface. Besides, the results of inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES) showed that the introduce of CA also accelerated the dissolution of magnesium cations on serpentine surface. In this way, the surface charge of serpentine was converted from positive to negative after interacting with CA, and the hetero-coagulation between serpentine and pyrite was broken, which was further verified by turbidity results. Therefore, the floatability of pyrite was restored. Based on these findings, CA is likely to act as an effective depressant in the flotation separation of sulfide ore from serpentine.

细蛇纹石会在硫化物表面形成粘液涂层，这会加剧硫化物浮选。为了解决这个问题，本研究系统地研究了柠檬酸（CA）对蛇纹石中黄铁矿浮选分离的影响及其机理。微浮选结果表明，分数为-10 µm的蛇纹石对黄铁矿浮选具有显着的抑制作用。但是，CA的利用可以有效地限制蛇纹石对黄铁矿浮选的不利影响，使黄铁矿的回收率从16％增加到95％。吸附，傅里叶变换红外光谱（FTIR）和X射线光电子能谱（XPS）的结果表明，CA可以吸附在蛇纹石表面，这可能是由于CA中的羧基与蛇纹石上的镁物质之间的螯合所致。表面。此外，电感耦合等离子体发射光谱法（ICP-OES）的结果表明，CA的引入也加速了镁阳离子在蛇纹石表面的溶解。通过这种方式，蛇毒的表面电荷在与CA相互作用后从正电荷转变为负电荷，并破坏了蛇毒和黄铁矿之间的杂凝，这进一步由浊度结果证实。因此，恢复了黄铁矿的漂浮性。基于这些发现，CA可能在从蛇纹石中浮选硫化矿中起有效的抑制作用。与CA相互作用后，蛇纹石的表面电荷从正电荷转变为负电荷，并破坏了蛇纹石与黄铁矿之间的杂凝，这进一步由浊度结果验证。因此，恢复了黄铁矿的漂浮性。基于这些发现，CA可能在从蛇纹石中浮选硫化矿中起有效的抑制作用。与CA相互作用后，蛇纹石的表面电荷从正电荷转变为负电荷，并破坏了蛇纹石与黄铁矿之间的杂凝，这进一步由浊度结果验证。因此，恢复了黄铁矿的漂浮性。基于这些发现，CA可能在从蛇纹石中浮选硫化矿中起有效的抑制作用。