Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate Modified Nano Alumina as a New Co-Collector in Increasing Copper Recovery from Oxide Sources in the Flotation Process

Flotation is a justifiable way to isolate valuable particles from primary ore. Collectors make mineral-rich particles connect to the froth phase and separate them in the flotation column. In this work, sodium dodecyl sulfate-modified nano Alumina as a new co-collector has been applied in the flotation process to boost the recovery of copper from oxide sources. For this purpose, the first nano alumina has been prepared by chemical precipitation method. co-collectors are some nanoparticles that have the potential to improve flotation performance in the recovery of valuable elements. The present study aims to produce spherical gamma-alumina nanoparticles and evaluate them as co-collectors to increase the flotation recovery of a natural sulfide-oxide copper mineral along with the molecular collector of Potassium Amyl Xanthate (PAX). morphology and structure of nano alumina were investigated by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD). The flotation recovery for acidic and alkaline nanoparticles was 86.65% and 93.15%, respectively. In comparison, in the absence of nanoparticles, the flotation number degraded to 53.35%. Moreover, the effect of nanoparticle dosage was investigated in this study.