Surface adsorption investigation of dodecylbenzenesulfonate isopropanolamine a novel collector during flotation separation of ilmenite from titanaugite

The dodecylbenzenesulfonate isopropanolamine (DBIA) as a collector was first adopted in ilmenite flotation in this study, and its effect on the surface properties of ilmenite and titanaugite was investigated by contact angle and zeta potential measurements, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis, and atomic force microscopy (AFM) detection. The flotation results showed that ilmenite obtained a superior floatability after being treated by DBIA, and that was ascribed to the improvement of the surface hydrophobicity of ilmenite. The zeta potential analysis indicated that the adsorption of DBIA onto ilmenite was stronger than that onto titanaugite. In addition, XPS detection revealed that the DBIA chemisorbed on the surface of ilmenite through reacting with Fe3+ active site, while weakly physisorbed onto titanaugite surface. Furthermore, the adsorption difference of DBIA led to a thick hydrophobic layer onto ilmenite surface but a sparse on the surface of titanaugite, which was vividly evidenced by the scanning results of AFM.