Preparation of a novel bis hydroxamic collector and its impact on bastnaesite flotation

A novel hydroxamic acid collector, Octylamino-bis-(isobutanohydroxamic acid) (OIBHA), for bastnaesite flotation was designed by constructing a double branched hydroxamic acid molecular structure and synthesized in the laboratory. Micro-flotation experiments were carried out to study the flotation performance of OIBHA. The adsorption mechanism was investigated by zeta potential, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Micro-flotation experiments revealed that OIBHA exhibited good collective and selective ability, and the effective separation between bastnaesite and fluorite can be realized. FTIR, zeta potential and XPS analysis results indicated that OIBHA was chemically adsorbed on the Ce site of bastnaesite surface. The introduction of the secondary hydroxamic acid group to form the branched molecular structure can improve the collecting ability and selectivity simultaneously.