Comportamiento de la Flotación de Arsenopirita en Presencia de Ácido Tánico

Arsenopyrite is a common mineral in metal sulfide deposits; it is a contaminant, and its flotation should be avoided during the concentration of valuable species. To achieve FeAsS depletion, toxic and poisonous inorganic agents are used; therefore, to achieve an ecologically sustainable process, they must be replaced with environmentally friendly organic reagents. Therefore, this research evaluates the flotation behavior of arsenopyrite in the presence of tannic acid (TA). The results indicate that TA is an excellent surface depleter for this mineral. In collector-free tests at pH 6.0, with 4.70 X 10-4 M of TA, arsenopyrite flotation was 6.9% in 10 minutes of flotation. This is due, on the one hand, to the chemical adsorption of TA to the mineral surface detected by FTIR with the stretching bands of the C = C aromatic ring structure bonds of the phenol groups located at 1699 cm-1 and 1530 cm-1. In addition, TA generates multiple Fe - O bond bands of the iron oxides goethite, akageneite, and lepidocrocite located at 790 cm-1, 599 cm-1, 468 cm-1.