The use of Fenton's reagent on selective flotation of chalcopyrite and molybdenite

Hydrogen peroxide (H ₂ O ₂ ) is frequently used as an oxidizing agent in various applications. It has also been reported to reduce the recovery of sulfide minerals. Moreover, the previous work applied H ₂ O ₂ aqueous solution in selective flotation of chalcopyrite and molybdenite. However, the oxidation method suffered in pilot scale test due to too long conditioning time. Furthermore, the excessive reagent consumption increased the reagent cost, causing the method not economically feasible. Consequently, further improvement is required to reduce the conditioning time and the reagent consumption. The oxidation performance of H ₂ O ₂ can be improved by using ferrous iron as catalyst, producing a Fenton's reagent which is more powerful oxidizer than the H ₂ O ₂ itself. Therefore, the effect of Fenton's reagent on the floatability of chalcopyrite and molybdenite was investigated in this study. The flotation test results show that selective flotation of chalcopyrite and molybdenite might be possible at low concentration of H ₂ O ₂ aqueous solution by adding ferrous iron. Moreover, the conditioning time could be shortened by this improvement. To understand the phenomenon, surface characterization using atomic force microscopy (AFM) along with x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis were carried out. The AFM images show that the surface of chalcopyrite was readily covered with mountainous features which alters its hydrophobicity after the oxidation treatment. Meanwhile, the molybdenite surface remained clean and relatively hydrophobic. The XPS results indicate that the mountainous features are various oxidation products (i.e., FeOOH, Fe ₂ (SO ₄ ) ₃ , CuO, Cu(OH) ₂ ). Possible mechanisms of this phenomenon were proposed in this work.