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Criteria for a surfactant to be used sequentially as a grinding aid and collector

  • Dr. Reham M. Farag received her BSc, MSc and PhD in Mining Engineering from Cairo University, Egypt. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mining Engineering. Her research interests include crushing and grinding, ore preparation, mineral beneficiation, interfacial processes and chemical reagents in mineral processing.

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    Prof. Ayman A. El-Midany is Professor of Mining Engineering, Cairo University, Egypt. He received his PhD in 2004 from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Florida, USA. He has various teaching and research interests in the fields of mineral processing, applied surface and colloid chemistry, chemical metallurgy and environmental engineering. He has published several papers in international journals and conferences. He has participated in various industrial projects related to mining, rock and geological engineering and mineral industries, either international or local projects.

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Published/Copyright: March 25, 2025
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Tenside Surfactants Detergents
From the journal Tenside Surfactants Detergents Volume 62 Issue 3

Abstract

In this study, the grinding and flotation of quartz were conducted in the presence of either a quaternary amine (QA) as a cationic surfactant or sodium dodecyl sulfonate (SDS) as an anionic surfactant. Both reagents were investigated to determine their suitability for sequential use as a grinding aid and a flotation collector. The results showed that although SDS was not an effective collector for quartz, it performed better than QA as a grinding aid. In contrast, the quaternary amine is efficient in both grinding and flotation. The effectiveness of SDS as a grinding aid is attributed to its ability to provide higher dispersion, which allows direct particle-grinding ball collisions to result in better grinding. However, the contamination of the quartz surface by cations, such as iron, which are predominantly present in a grinding mill, increases the floatability of quartz when SDS is used at the expense of its effectiveness as a grinding aid, as the dispersion becomes minimal. On the other hand, while the chemical affinity of QA to the quartz surface improves its flotation performance but slightly reduces the dispersion status.

Keywords: grinding aids; flotation collectors; quartz surface; sodium dodecyl sulfonate; quaternary amine; particle dispersion
Corresponding author: Ayman A. El-Midany, Mining and Geological Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt, E-mail:

About the authors

Reham M. Farag

Dr. Reham M. Farag received her BSc, MSc and PhD in Mining Engineering from Cairo University, Egypt. She is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mining Engineering. Her research interests include crushing and grinding, ore preparation, mineral beneficiation, interfacial processes and chemical reagents in mineral processing.

Ayman A. El-Midany

Prof. Ayman A. El-Midany is Professor of Mining Engineering, Cairo University, Egypt. He received his PhD in 2004 from the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Florida, USA. He has various teaching and research interests in the fields of mineral processing, applied surface and colloid chemistry, chemical metallurgy and environmental engineering. He has published several papers in international journals and conferences. He has participated in various industrial projects related to mining, rock and geological engineering and mineral industries, either international or local projects.

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully thank the Minerals Technology and testing lab, Mining, Petroleum and Metallurgical Engineering Dept., Faculty of Engineering, Cairo University, for providing the help, guidance, and the needed equipment and instrumentation for conducting the experiments of this work.

  1. Research ethics: The authors are abide by the research ethics.

  2. Informed consent: Not applicable.

  3. Author contributions: Authors contributed equally and have accepted responsibility for the entire content of this manuscript and approved its submission.

  4. Use of Large Language Models, AI and Machine Learning Tools: Not applicable.

  5. Conflict of interest: No competing interest to report.

  6. Research funding: No funding to be declared.

  7. Data availability: All the necessary data used in the manuscript.

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Received: 2024-11-07
Accepted: 2025-03-05
Published Online: 2025-03-25
Published in Print: 2025-05-26

© 2025 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

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  14. Synthesis and defoaming properties of two sulfonate surfactants from trisiloxane
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https://doi.org/10.1515/tsd-2024-2638
Keywords for this article
grinding aids; flotation collectors; quartz surface; sodium dodecyl sulfonate; quaternary amine; particle dispersion

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Review Article
  3. Precision-engineered nanomaterials: unlocking the potential of water-in-oil microemulsions for the controlled synthesis, morphology design, and future innovations
  4. Micellar Catalysis
  5. Oxidation of l-tyrosine by diperiodatocuprate(III) in CPC micellar medium, facilitated by Ru(III)
  6. A comprehensive spectral study of dye-surfactant complex formation by Xylenol Orange with selective aqueous micellar media of CPC, rhamnolipids and saponin
  7. Physical Chemistry
  8. Preparation of polyoxyethylene(n) monodehydroabietates and their physicochemical properties
  9. Surface modification of synthetic montmorillonite as thickener: rheological behavior and tribological properties at high load and high temperature
  10. Drug Delivery System
  11. Exploring fatty acid-amino acid conjugate for the development of self-assembling, pH-sensitive vesicles for targeted anticancer drug delivery
  12. Novel Sufactants
  13. Double headed alkyl triazole glycosides – alternatives for APGs with increased hydrophilicity part 1: synthesis and physicochemical properties
  14. Synthesis and defoaming properties of two sulfonate surfactants from trisiloxane
  15. Application
  16. Criteria for a surfactant to be used sequentially as a grinding aid and collector
  17. Chitosan/hydroxyapatite biomimetic material loaded with Curcuma longa L. essential oil
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