Nitrobenzoate as a flotation depressant for arsenopyrite: A theoretical study of the structure-reactivity relationship

Nitrobenzoate can effectively depressor the flotation of arsenopyrite, making theoretical studies to elu-cidate the mechanism essential. This study investigates the structure-reactivity relationship of nitroben-zoate as a flotation depressant for arsenopyrite by density functional theory calculations. The results revealed that O/N heteroatoms participated in the formation of chemical bonds with the metal atoms on the mineral surface as o-nitrobenzoate, m-nitrobenzoate, and p-nitrobenzoate molecules and had sig-nificant chemical reactivities. The interaction of the flotation depressant with the mineral surface fol-lowed the order: m-nitrobenzoate > p-nitrobenzoate > o-nitrobenzoate, which was further confirmed by flotation experiments. Furthermore, the reactive sites of the three nitrobenzoate isomers were inves-tigated, and the results revealed that all three isomers had the same reactive sites, but interacted differ-ently with the metal atoms.(c) 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.