A novel surfactant S-[(2-hydroxyamino)-2-oxoethyl]-N,N-dibutyldithiocarbamate with flotation performance and hydrophobicity to cassiterite

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-28-2025

Department

Department of Chemical Engineering

Abstract

Growing attention has been drawn to exploring effective collectors in the mining industry to make full use of the important cassiterite resource. Dithiocarbamate ester surfactant is deemed a promising collector group. In this work, researchers utilize S-[(2-hydroxyamino)-2-oxoethyl]-N, N-dibutyl-dithiocarbamate (HABTC) and octylhydroxamic acid (OHA) to conduct flotation tests of cassiterite. It was found that HABTC achieved a better flotation performance and realized a successful flotation enrichment of cassiterite particles, which was consistent with the hydrophobicity determination by ClogP, and the excellent performance of its bifunctional molecular structure. Moreover, researchers systematically investigated the adsorption mechanism of HABTC towards cassiterite surfaces. Results of Zeta potential and Ultraviolet/visible(UV/vis) measurements proved the occurrence of a chemisorption interaction between Sn4+ ions and HABTC. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analyses indicated that HABTC likely reacted with the Sn(IV) atoms on the cassiterite surface. It was hypothesized that the reaction occurred through the group between S atom of the N-C(=S) and O atom of −C(=O)N-OH in HABTC, producing complexes and the group might act as a hydrophilic group for calcite flotation, however as a chelating group for cassiterite flotation, leading to HABTC's lower flotation recovery of calcite and its excellent collecting properties towards cassiterite. The universal mechanism revealed in this work shows strong potentials for broader applications of HABTC in cassiterite flotation.

Publication Title

Separation and Purification Technology

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