Depression behaviors of N-thiourea-maleamic acid and its adsorption mechanism on galena in Mo-Pb flotation separation

In present study, a novel organic depressant N-thiourea-maleamic acid (TMA) was synthesized and applied as a galena depressant in the flotation separation of Mo-Pb ores. The depression behaviors of TMA were tested through flotation experiments. A wider separation window for single minerals over 90.0% was obtained at 30.0 mg/L TMA, confirming that TMA could depress galena significantly, while effected molybdenite floatability slightly. An effective separation was obtained for artificially mixed minerals and actual Mo-Pb ores. The adsorption mechanism on galena was revealed by UV–Vis spectra, zeta potential tests, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) analysis, contact angle tests and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis. The zeta potentials of galena became more negative and the contact angle of galena dropped from initial 74.36° to 57.8° with 30.0 mg/L TMA depressant, inferring that TMA had adsorbed on galena surface. The analysis results of UV–Vis spectra, FT-IR and XPS gave further evidence that TMA might chemisorb on galena surface via Pb sites on galena surface and the thiourea group in TMA molecular structure, while the carboxyl group played a role of hydrophilicity.