Abstract: | Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy has been extensively employed In flotation research. The work done by the author and co-workers has been reported. A comparison has been made among the different FTIR specfroscopic techniques, e.g. , transmission FTIR spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform (DRIFT) spectroscopy, and attenuated total reflectance (ATR) FTIR spectroscopy. FTIR spectroscopy has been used to study the mechanism of interaction between the collector and the surfaces of different minerals, the mechanism of action of the depressant in improving the selectivity of flotation, and the mechanism of adsorption of the polymeric modifying reagent on mineral surfaces. The interaction between particles in mineral suspension has also been studied by FTIR spectroscopy. |