Minerals Engineering 83 (2015) 217222

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Minerals Engineering
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/mineng

Flotation separation of coppermolybdenum sulfides using chitosan

as a selective depressant
Mingyang Li a,b, Dezhou Wei a,, Qi Liu b,, Wenbao Liu a, Jimin Zheng c, Hongjie Sun d
a
College of Resources and Civil Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110819, China
b
Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2V4, Canada
c
Weihai Haiwang Hydrocyclone Co., Ltd., Weihai, Shandong 264200, China
d
Department of Environmental Engineering, Dalian Nationalities University, Dalian, Liaoning 116600, China

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Chitosan, a natural biodegradable polymer, was studied as a selective depressant in coppermolybdenum
Received 7 July 2015 sulfide separation by flotation. Although chitosan depressed both molybdenite and chalcopyrite in single
Revised 15 September 2015 mineral flotation, selective flotation was achieved during the flotation of molybdenum-bearing copper
Accepted 16 September 2015
sulfide concentrate at pH 6; the recovery of molybdenum in the froth product was over 70% while the
recovery of copper was less than 24%. Adsorption measurements showed that chitosan had a higher
adsorption density on chalcopyrite than on molybdenite. FTIR and ToF-SIMS measurements were carried
Keywords:
out to confirm the different degrees of interaction of chitosan with molybdenite and chalcopyrite and the
Chitosan
Molybdenite
results showed that chitosan mostly adsorbed on chalcopyrite via amide groups when both molybdenite
Chalcopyrite and chalcopyrite were present in the suspension.
Coppermolybdenum separation 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Depressant

1. Introduction
The selective separation of coppermolybdenum sulfide miner-
als by flotation mostly relies on the use of various depressants.
Sodium hydrosulfide, sodium sulfide, cyanide and Nokes reagent
(thiophosphorus or thioarsenic compounds) are routinely used as
the selective depressants of chalcopyrite (Bulatovic, 2007; Pearse,
2005; Prasad, 1992; Yin et al., 2010), the main copper sulfide min-
eral. However, with the increasingly stringent environmental and
safety regulations, it is necessary to replace these high dosage,
low selectivity, and toxic or hazardous reagents with more envi-
ronmentally friendly chemicals.
Chitosan, a natural biodegradable and non-toxic polyaminosac-
charide, is made from chitin which is the main component of crus-
tacean shells (Davis, 2011; Wan Ngah et al., 2011). As shown in
Fig. 1 (Crini and Badot, 2008), the structures of chitin and chitosan
are b(14)-linked N-acetyl glucosamine and b(14)-linked D-
glucosamine, respectively. Chitosan has been used in many areas
such as biomedical engineering, healthcare, wastewater treatment,
paper and textile industry, agriculture and food industry, etc.
because of its abundance, biodegradability, biocompatibility and
film-forming ability (Burke et al., 2002; Crini and Badot, 2008;
Egger et al., 1999; Gerente et al., 2007; Gonzalez Siso et al., 1997;
Corresponding authors.
E-mail addresses: dzwei@mail.neu.edu.cn (D. Wei), qi.liu@ualberta.ca (Q. Liu).
Houshyar and Amishahi, 2002; Illum, 1998; Loke et al., 2000;
Majeti and Kumar, 2000; Shin and Yoo, 1998; Wang et al., 2002).
Chitosan has also been explored in the minerals industry, for
example, chitosan could be used as a depressant to depress
chalcopyrite selectively in the flotation separation of copperlead
and leadiron sulfides (Huang et al., 2013, 2012a,b). Also, chitosan
modified lipid-based particles were observed to adsorb on silica
surfaces (treated with mucin) in the pH range from 4 to 6
(Svensson et al., 2008). However, to our knowledge there is not
any report about the application of chitosan in the flotation
separation of coppermolybdenum sulfides. Thus, in the present
study, chitosan was chosen as a depressant in coppermolybdenum
sulfide separation using single minerals and Jiama copper
molybdenum sulfide ore samples to determine its possibility to
be an effective selective depressant. Adsorption isotherms, FTIR
spectroscopic and ToF-SIMS measurements were conducted to
illustrate the interaction mechanisms between chitosan and
minerals (chalcopyrite and molybdenite).
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Materials
2.1.1. Reagents
Chitosan with a reported deacetylation degree of 8095% and
sodium sulfide were acquired from Sinopharm Chemical Reagent

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mineng.2015.09.013
0892-6875/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
218 M. Li et al. / Minerals Engineering 83 (2015) 217222
Fig. 1. Structures of the repeating units of chitin and chitosan (Crini and Badot,
2008).
Co., LTD, China. The molecular weight of the chitosan ranged from
200,000 to 320,000. The chitosan was dissolved by diluted acetic
acid (1% by weight) before use. Kerosene, terpenic oil and sodium
butyl xanthate were provided by Tieling Flotation Reagents
Factory, China. Zincon monosodium salt, acetic acid and sodium
acetate were obtained from Fisher Scientific Canada.
2.1.2. Minerals
The pure chalcopyrite and molybdenite were obtained from
Yunnan Province and Tibet, China, respectively. The lumps of the
molybdenite and chalcopyrite were crushed manually and hand-
picked. The isolated high purity samples were ground in an agate
mortar before sieving to
100 + 45 lm and
45 lm size fractions.
The
100 + 45 lm size fraction was used for the flotation tests,
adsorption isotherm measurements and ToF-SIMS. The finer,

45 lm size fraction was used for FTIR spectroscopic measure-
ments. The BET (Brunauer, Emmett, Teller) specific surface area
of the
100 + 45 lm size fraction of chalcopyrite and molybdenite
was 0.29 m2/g and 0.56 m2/g determined by an Autosorb-C
analyzer (Quantachrome, US). The results of a chemical analysis
and X-ray powder diffraction confirmed that the purity of
chalcopyrite was 95.0% and molybdenite 90.2%.
A coppermolybdenum ore sample was obtained from Jiama
copper polymetallic deposit in Tibet, China. It contained 0.90% cop-
per and 0.056% molybdenum. The mineralogical analysis showed
that copper and molybdenum mainly existed in the form of chal-
copyrite and molybdenite respectively and the gangue minerals
were primarily quartz, chlorite and calcite. The chemical analysis
confirmed that the molybdenum-bearing copper concentrate
obtained from the coppermolybdenum ore bulk flotation test,
conducted following the procedure shown in Fig. 2, contained
22.42% copper and 1.96% molybdenum.
2.2. Methods
2.2.1. Flotation
The flowsheet of the coppermolybdenum ore bulk flotation
test is described in Fig. 2. Six hundred grams
2 mm ore was
ground to 70%
74 lm in a U160  180 mm ball mill. The bulk
flotation tests were conducted in a XFD flotation cell, with cell
volumes of 1500 mL for rougher flotation and 500 mL for cleaner
flotation.
The flotation tests on single minerals and molybdenum-bearing
copper concentrate were carried out using a model XGF-1600 flota-
tion machine operating at 1600 rpm with a 30 mL suspension cell.
In a typical test, the mineral slurry was prepared by adding 2 g of a
single mineral or molybdenum-bearing copper concentrate to
30 mL of distilled water. The slurry pH was modified to the desired
value by adding either HCl or NaOH solutions. The reagents
(chitosan, kerosene and terpenic oil) were added in sequence and
conditioned for 2 min each. The conditioned slurry was floated
for a total of 5 min. Both the froth and tailings products were
collected and dried. In single mineral flotation, the recovery was
obtained from the solid weight distribution between froth and
Feed
P70=74m
Kerosene 50g/t
Sodium butyl xanthate 30g/t
Terpenic oil 50g/t
Rougher 5min
Cleaner 5min
Tailing
Cleaner 5min
Molybdenum-bearing copper concentrate
Fig. 2. Flotation flowsheet of closed circuit experiment to obtain molybdenum-
bearing copper concentrate.
tailings. In molybdenum-bearing copper concentrate separation,
the recovery was calculated from chemical assays of the copper
and molybdenum contents in the froth and tailings.
2.2.2. Adsorption isotherms measurements
The adsorption studies were performed in a SI-600 shaking
incubator (Jeio Tech, USA) operating at 200 rpm at 25 C. Two
grams of a mineral powder (
100 + 45 lm) and 50 mL distilled
water were mixed in a conical flask, to which a given amount of
xanthate or chitosan solution was added. The conditioned suspen-
sion was placed in the shaking incubator and shaken for 1 h. After
filtering, the xanthate concentration of the filtrate was determined
by UVVis spectroscopy and the residual amount of chitosan in the
filtrate was determined by a complexation reaction between the
chitosan and zincon monosodium salt and by UVVis spectroscopy
(Gao et al., 2003). It was assumed that the amount of xanthate or
chitosan depleted from the solution had been adsorbed completely
on to the mineral surface. The amounts of xanthate and chitosan
adsorbed on minerals were determined for different equilibrium
concentrations.
2.2.3. FTIR spectroscopic measurements
One gram of
45 lm chalcopyrite or molybdenite sample was
ground to about
2 lm in an agate mortar, then placed into a
250 mL conical flask with 100 mL of 1.0 g/L chitosan solution.
The suspension was adjusted to pH 6 with HCl or NaOH and was
shaken in the shaking incubator for 30 min. The treated mineral
solids were then filtered and washed three times with deionized
water. The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of chitosan,
untreated and treated minerals were collected by a Bruker Alpha
(Thermo, USA) FTIR spectrophotometer.
2.2.4. ToF-SIMS measurements
ToF-SIMS are widely used to study the surface chemical of min-
erals subjected to flotation separation (Chehreh Chelgani and Hart,
2014). The ToF-SIMS measurements of the chalcopyritemolybde
nite mixture treated with chitosan were conducted by a ToF-
SIMS IV spectrometer at the Alberta Center for Surface Engineering
and Science (ACSES). A high energy beam of Bi+ ions (25 kV) was
focused on a sample area of 64 lm  64 lm and H+, CH 3 and Na
+
ions were used as the secondary ion peaks to obtain the positive
spectra which is a function of mass. Images were generated by
the way described in detail by Huang et al. (2012a). The sample
was prepared by adding 1.5 g chalcopyrite and 0.5 g molybdenite
 M. Li et al. / Minerals Engineering 83 (2015) 217222 219

to 50 mL of 6 mg/L chitosan solution at pH 6, then the suspension 100

was magnetically stirred for 30 min. After filtering, the solid was Chalcopyrite
dried in a vacuum drying oven at 25 C before ToF-SIMS analysis. Molybdenite
80

3. Results and discussion

Recovery/%
60
3.1. Flotation of single minerals

40
Recoveries of molybdenite and chalcopyrite in single mineral
flotation tests with and without chitosan as a depressant at a range
of pH values (412) is presented in Fig. 3. As shown in Fig. 3, both
20
molybdenite and chalcopyrite show high floatability with a high
recovery of more than 85% and 70%, respectively, in the tested
pH range in the absence of chitosan. The recoveries of chalcopyrite
and molybdenite showed the same tendency, i.e., that recoveries 0 2 4 6 8 10
increased in the pH range of 48 but decreased gradually when Concentration/ mg L
-1

over pH 10. However, the floatability of chalcopyrite and molyb-

denite dropped significantly when 0.65 mg/L chitosan was added. Fig. 4. Flotation of single minerals of chalcopyrite and molybdenite as a function of
The relationship between the recovery of molybdenite and pH in chitosan concentration at pH 6 by kerosene (8.3 mg/L).

the presence of chitosan was shaped like an inverted U which rose

from about 30% to 50% between pH 4 and 6 and then dropped grad-
ually from about 50% to 20% in the pH range of 612. The recovery
3.2. Flotation of molybdenum-bearing copper concentrate
of chalcopyrite dropped from over 70% to about 6% when chitosan
was added at pH 4. Between pH 6 and 10, the recovery of chalcopy-
Single mineral flotation tests using chalcopyrite and molybden-
rite increased gradually from about 7% to 17% in the presence of
ite only showed a marginal effect of chitosan as a potential
chitosan and kept unchanged at pH 12, which was in line with
selective depressant in coppermolybdenum sulfide separation.
the reported results on the adsorption of the Cu ion on chitosan
However, since the single mineral flotation tests could not demon-
and flotation behavior as a function of pH (Chu, 2002; Huang
strate the competitive adsorption of chitosan on the two minerals,
et al., 2012b; Kasgz et al., 2003).
testwork was carried out on molybdenum-bearing copper
As shown in Fig. 3, the maximum recovery difference between
concentrate to examine the potential to use chitosan as a selective
chalcopyrite and molybdenite occurred at pH 6. Therefore,
depressant in coppermolybdenum separation. The molybdenum-
testwork was conducted by fixing pH at 6 and varying chitosan
bearing copper concentrate was obtained from the copper
concentrations and the results are plotted in Fig. 4. It can be seen
molybdenum ore bulk flotation flowsheet as shown in Fig. 2.
from Fig. 4 that the recoveries of chalcopyrite and molybdenite
Kerosene and xanthate were used as the collector in the bulk
decreased simultaneously with the increase in chitosan concentra-
flotation. The yield of molybdenum-bearing copper concentrate
tion. The recovery of chalcopyrite dropped from about 80% to 2% in
was too low in each batch flotation to carry out the copper
the chitosan concentration range of 08.7 mg/L, and the recovery
molybdenum separation because of the low grade (0.90% Cu and
of molybdenite decreased from about 86% to 30% in the same
0.056% Mo) of the ore. Therefore, the molybdenum-bearing copper
chitosan concentration range. Furthermore, the result also showed
concentrates from different batches were blended together to
that the recovery difference between chalcopyrite and molybden-
obtain sufficient sample for coppermolybdenum separation. The
ite was enlarged gradually as the chitosan concentration was
sample contained 22.42% copper and 1.96% molybdenum.
increased.
Fig. 5 shows the recoveries of copper and molybdenum in the
froth product as a function of pH using 8.3 mg/L kerosene as the
collector and 6.5 mg/L chitosan as a depressant. As the figure
100 shows, the recovery of molybdenum remained mostly above 60%
in the entire pH range tested (412). The recovery of copper was
nearly parallel to that of molybdenite but about 40 percentage
80 points lower.
The recoveries of copper and molybdenum at different chitosan
Chalcopyrite with CTS concentrations in molybdenum-bearing copper flotation are
Recovery/%

60 Molybdenite with CTS plotted in Fig. 6. As shown in Fig. 6 the recovery of copper
Chalcopyrite decreased from 55% to 9% and molybdenum from 80% to 55% as
Molybdenite the chitosan concentration increased from 0.9 mg/L to 8.7 mg/L.
40 It is necessary to note that both the recoveries of copper and
molybdenum and the recovery differences were higher than those
in single mineral flotation (Fig. 4). Fig. 6 also shows that similar
20 recoveries of copper and molybdenum are obtained when
conventional depressant sodium sulfide is used at pH 8 and
concentration 400 mg/L while the concentration of chitosan is
0 6.5 mg/L. The results of molybdenum-bearing copper concentrate
2 4 6 8 10 12 14
flotation show that chitosan is possible to be used as a selective
pH
depressant in coppermolybdenum separation and it is non-
Fig. 3. Flotation of single minerals of chalcopyrite and molybdenite as a function of toxic and less dosage than conventional depressant sodium
pH by kerosene (8.3 mg/L) with or without chitosan (6.5 mg/L). sulfide.
220 M. Li et al. / Minerals Engineering 83 (2015) 217222

100
Copper in froth (a) 2.0
Molybdenum in froth

Adsorption density/(mg m )
80

-2
1.6
Recovery/%

60 1.2

40 0.8

20 0.4 Chalcopyrite
Molybdenite

0
2 4 6 8 10 12 14 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
-1
pH Concentration/(mg L )
Fig. 5. Flotation of molybdenum-bearing copper concentrate as a function of pH by
kerosene (8.3 mg/L) and chitosan (6.5 mg/L). (b) 1.0

Adsorption density/(mgm )
-2
-1 0.8
Concentration of sodium sulfide/(mg L )
150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500
100 0.6

80
0.4
Recovery/%

60
40
20
0 2 4 6
Concentration of chitosan/(mg L )
Copper in froth with chitosan
Molybdenum in froth with chitosan
Copper in froth with sodlium sulfide
Molybdenum in froth with sodium sulfide
Fig. 6. Flotation of molybdenum-bearing copper concentrate as a function of
chitosan concentration at pH 6 and sodium sulfide concentration at pH 8 by
kerosene (8.3 mg/L).
3.3. Adsorption of chitosan and xanthate on minerals
The adsorption densities of chitosan and xanthate on single
mineral (chalcopyrite and molybdenite) surfaces as a function of
reagent concentration are shown in Fig. 7a and b respectively.
The results in Fig. 7a indicated that adsorption densities of chitosan
on chalcopyrite and molybdenite increased simultaneously with
the increase of chitosan concentration, and the adsorption density
of chitosan on molybdenite was slightly lower than that on chal-
copyrite which was in agreement with the result of single mineral
flotation in Fig. 4 where less molybdenite was depressed than chal-
copyrite by chitosan.
As can be seen from Fig. 7b, xanthate adsorbed on both
molybdenite and chalcopyrite. The residual xanthate from cop-
permolybdenum bulk flotation on molybdenum-bearing copper
concentrate (molybdenite and chalcopyrite) may lead to higher
recoveries of copper and molybdenum in molybdenum-bearing
0.2 Chalcopyrite
Molybdenite
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
-1
Concentration/(mg L )
Fig. 7. Adsorption density of reagents on chalcopyrite and molybdenite as a
function of concentration at pH 6. (a) depressant chitosan; (b) collector xanthate.
8 10
-1
copper concentrate flotation (Fig. 6) than that in single mineral
flotation (Fig. 4). Secondly, the adsorption density of xanthate on
molybdenite was higher than that on chalcopyrite. In other words,
the surface coverage of molybdenite by xanthate was higher than
that of chalcopyrite. The pre-adsorbed xanthate hindered the
adsorption of chitosan on molybdenite and chalcopyrite. Therefore,
the different surface coverage of the molybdenite and chalcopyrite
in molybdenum-bearing copper concentrate may contribute to the
larger differences in molybdenum and copper recoveries from the
molybdenum-bearing copper concentrate than from the single
minerals.
3.4. FTIR spectra of chalcopyrite and molybdenite treated with
chitosan
The FTIR spectra of chalcopyrite and molybdenite before and
after treatment with chitosan are presented in Figs. 8 and 9,
respectively, together with the spectrum of chitosan, in the spec-
tral range of 17001000 cm
1. In the spectrum of chitosan, the
bands at 1655 cm
1, 1582 cm
1, 1551 cm
1 and 1317 cm
1 were
due to C@O stretching (amide I), NAH deformation vibration
(amine II), NAH in plane deformation (amine III) and CAN stretch-
ing (amine IV) of acetyl groups in chitosan molecules, respectively,
which were in agreement with previous reports (Amaral et al.,
2005; Huang et al., 2012b; Lawrie et al., 2007; Muzzarelli, 1973).
 M. Li et al. / Minerals Engineering 83 (2015) 217222 221

new band appeared near 1558 cm
1 on both chalcopyrite and

Chalcopyrite
molybdenite resulting from the adsorption of the amide III groups
of chitosan on the surfaces of chalcopyrite and molybdenite. But a
Chalcopyrite+Chitosan new band near 1615 cm
1, corresponding to the adsorption of
protonated amine groups, only appeared on chalcopyrite. This
indicated that chitosan adsorbed on molybdenite only via amide
Absorbance

III (NAH) groups while it adsorbed on chalcopyrite through both

1558
amide III groups and protonated amine groups, consistent with
1615 the results reported by Huang et al. (2012b) on chitosan-
1375 chalcopyrite interactions.
1582 1317
1625 Chitosan 3.5. ToF-SIMS analyses of chalcopyritemolybdenite mixtures treated
1551
with chitosan

1655 ToF-SIMS measurements were conducted to study the possible

1700 1600 1500 1400 1300 1200 1100 selective adsorption of chitosan on molybdenite and chalcopyrite
-1 surfaces from chalcopyritemolybdenite mixtures. Positive ion
Wavenumber/cm
maps of Cu+ and Mo+ were used to outline the molybdenite and
Fig. 8. The FTIR spectra of chitosan and chalcopyrite before and after treatment chalcopyrite grains in the mixture of chalcopyrite and molybdenite
with chitosan at pH 6. after treating with chitosan. The CH4N+ ion maps were chosen to
determine the distribution of chitosan on the mineral mixture sur-
face. The distributions of chalcopyrite, molybdenite and chitosan
Molybdenite were shown in Fig. 10ac, respectively. It can be seen that molyb-
denite and chalcopyrite are distinguishable from each other on the
studied area. Compared with Fig. 10a and b, the distribution of chi-
tosan matched well with the pattern of chalcopyrite distribution
Molybdenite+Chitosan
indicating that the added chitosan preferred to adsorb on the chal-
Absorbance

copyrite surfaces over molybdenite surfaces.

To study the selectivity of chitosan on chalcopyritemolybde
1558 nite mixtures further, positive ion mass spectra of the samples
were used to determine the interacting moieties between the
minerals and chitosan. As shown in Fig. 11, the intensity of NH+4
1375
1317 was much higher than those of NH+2 and NH+3. According to the
1625
1551 Chitosan ToF-SIMS analysis results of Huang et al. (2012b), the intensity of
NH+4 was higher than NH+2 and NH+3 when chitosan was dissolved
1655 in water and then dried before ToF-SIMS measurements. The pKa
1700 1600 1500 1400 1300 1200 1100 for the protonation of chitosan is 6.5 (Crini and Badot, 2008;
Wavenumber/cm -1 Guibal, 2005; Sorlier et al., 2001). Therefore the higher intensity
of NH+4 was likely caused by the cationization of ANH+3, formed
Fig. 9. The FTIR spectra of chitosan and molybdenite before and after treatment from ANH2 groups in chitosan at pH 6 in the aqueous solution
with chitosan at pH 6.
(Huang et al., 2012b; Vickerman et al., 2001). It can be seen from
Fig. 11 that the intensity of CuNH+4 is markedly higher than that
of MoNH+4, and the intensities of the rest of the ionic fragments
The band near 1625 cm
1 corresponded to the asymmetric defor- were low. The CuNH+4 was probably the result of cationization of
mation vibration of the protonated amine (ANH+3) (Huang et al., CuNH3 (Huang et al., 2012b). Therefore, the dominance of CuNH+4
2012b). species indicated that chitosan interacted with chalcopyrite
As shown in Figs. 8 and 9, the results of chitosan adsorbed on strongly via ANH+3, which was consistent with the result shown
the two minerals indicated that after treating with chitosan, a in Fig. 8.

Fig. 10. Positive-ion images of the surface of chalcopyritemolybdenite mixtures (weight ratio 3:1) treated with 6 mg/L chitosan. (a) Image of chalcopyrite (Cu+); (b) Image of
molybdenite (Mo+); (c) Image of chitosan (CH4N+).
222 M. Li et al. / Minerals Engineering 83 (2015) 217222
CuNH+4
Intensity
CuNH+2 MoNH+2
NH+4
CuNH+3 MoNH+3
MoNH+4
NH+3
NH+2
0 20 40 60 80 100 120
m/z
Fig. 11. Part of the positive ion ToF-SIMS spectra of chalcopyritemolybdenite
mixture (weight ratio 3:1) treated with 6 mg/L chitosan at pH 6.
4. Conclusions
In this study, chitosan was explored in the coppermolybde-
num sulfide mineral flotation separation as a potential selective
depressant. The main observations and conclusions are:
(1) Chitosan depressed chalcopyrite strongly in very low con-
centrations, while it also depressed molybdenite flotation
to some extent as shown by single mineral flotation tests.
However, the results of molybdenum-bearing copper con-
centrate flotation revealed that molybdenite was floatable
while chalcopyrite was depressed by chitosan. Therefore,
the selectivity of chitosan in the CuMo sulfide flotation sep-
aration was observed when both Cu sulfide and Mo sulfide
minerals are present in the pulp.
(2) Measurements of the adsorption densities of xanthate and
chitosan on chalcopyrite and molybdenite indicated that
both chalcopyrite and molybdenite adsorbed chitosan, but
the adsorption density of chitosan on chalcopyrite was
higher than on molybdenite. Meanwhile, molybdenite
adsorbed more xanthate than chalcopyrite.
(3) The results of FTIR and ToF-SIMS measurements revealed
that chitosan had higher affinity for chalcopyrite than for
molybdenite, and chitosan adsorbed on chalcopyrite via
both amide III (NAH) groups and protonated amine groups
while only via amide III (NAH) groups on molybdenite.
Acknowledgements
The authors appreciate financial support from both the Key Pro-
jects in the National Science & Technology Pillar Program during
the Twelfth Five-year Plan Period of China (Grant Nos.
2012BAB01B03) and Canadas NSERC Discovery Grant program to
this project. The ToF-SIMS measurements were taken at the Alberta
Centre for Surface Engineering and Science (ACSES), University of
Alberta. Mingyang Li also thanks to the China Scholarship Council
(CSC) for the scholarship support.
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