Surface chemistry features in the flotation of KCl

Despite the successful industrial practice to recover KCl by flotation, the adsorption state of collectors at KCl salt surfaces is still not fully understood. In this paper, the flotation behavior of KCl and NaCl using different collectors and captive bubble contact angle measurements at KCl and NaCl crystal surfaces in their saturated solutions are reported. The influence of collector concentration and collector structure is considered. The results show that both cationic and anionic collectors produce a hydrophobic state at the structure breaking KCl salt surface, with finite contact angle values of between 30° and 60°. In contrast, the contact angle at the structure making NaCl salt surface is zero at all collector concentrations, suggesting that no collector adsorption occurs, a supposition that is supported by results from molecular dynamics simulation (MDS). Further, it appears that the presence of surface defects such as edges and corners promote the adsorption of collectors at the KCl surface, and that the flotation is achieved by bubble attachment at the edges/corners of KCl particles with the formation of aeroflocs.