An SFG spectroscopy study of the interfacial water structure and the adsorption of sodium silicate at the fluorite and silica surfaces

Sodium silicate (SS) is often used as a depressant or a dispersant to improve the selectivity of froth flotation. The depressing ability of SS changes with its concentration and the solution pH. However, the depressing mechanism is unclear. In this paper, sum frequency generation spectroscopy was used to investigate the water structure at the mineral-water interface to provide a molecular understanding of SS adsorption and its role in flotation. Our study shows that a significant amount of silicate species adsorbs at the fluorite-water and silica-water interfaces in a wide range of pH, independently of the surface potential. The adsorption layer of silicate species on the fluorite surface can be removed at low pH (acidic condition), but its removal becomes difficult at high pH (basic condition). On the contrary, the adsorption of silicate species at the silica surface is so strong that the adsorbed species cannot be removed at the whole pH range. This finding agrees with flotation results showing that SS can be used as a dispersant for fluorite at pH = 6-8, but it behaves like a depressant at higher pH. Also, SS effectively depresses the silica floatability at the whole range of pH due to its strong interaction with the mineral surface. This work provides the molecular details about the SS adsorption onto the mineral surface which is complementary to the previous macroscopic studies such as FTIR, zeta potential, and XPS measurements.