A novel surfactant 2-amino-6-decanamidohexanoic acid: Flotation performance and adsorption mechanism to diaspore

The potential absorption model of a layer of AHA-10 coated on diaspore. [Display omitted] •2-Amino-6-decanamidohexanoic acid was first introduced as collector.•AHA-10 exhibited superior affinity to diaspore against aluminosilicate.•AHA-10 owned unique bond patterns and double hydrophobic groups.•AHA-10 formed intermolecular hydrogen bonds on diaspore surfaces. In this paper, a novel surfactant, 2-amino-6-decanamidohexanoic acid (AHA-10) was synthesized and used as a collector for flotation separation of diaspore and aluminosilicate minerals. The adsorption mechanism of AHA-10 onto diaspore was also evaluated by FTIR spectra, zeta potential, XPS and solution chemistry. The flotation results demonstrated that AHA-10 exhibited superior collecting power to diaspore and good selectivity against kaolinite and illite, and could effectively recover diaspore from bauxite ores contained aluminosilicate minerals at pH around 10. The analyses of FTIR spectra, zeta potential and solution chemistry inferred that at pH around 10, AHA-10 might chemisorb on diaspore surfaces by formation of AlO and AlN bonds. AHA-10’s unique properties, such as characteristic bond model to Al atoms on diaspore surfaces, double hydrophobic groups and intermolecular hydrogen bonds between neighboring AHA-10 molecules coated on diaspore surfaces, rendering a weakening surface energy and enhancing hydrophobicity of diaspore particles.