Title: A Fundamental Study on the Removal of Heavy Metal Ions (Cu2+, Zn2+ and Fe3+) from Mine Water by Flotation Methods (1)
Abstract: Experiments on the removal of Cu2+, Zn2+ and Fe3+ ions from the solution prepared were carried out, using anionic surfactants such as sodium lauryl sulfate (NaLS) and sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (NaDBS) and cationic surfactant such as cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTMAB) as a collector. In order to study the mutual effects of collector and metal-ion concentration and pH of the solution, three flotation methods namely ion flotation, precipitate flotation and coprecipitate flotation, were comparatively examined.The results were as follows; precipitate flotation was more efficient than ion flotation. Flotation with 0.1 mM iron (III) hydroxide and 0.2-0.4 mM NaLS in the region of pH 5.0-10.0 proved to be most effective in obtaining the Cu++ recovery of about 90-99% from the 0.1mM Cu++ solution. Cationic surfactant, CTMAB, could be used for the precipitate flotation over the pH of about 9.0-10.0.Furthermore, it was discussed that the electronic charge of heavy metal ions, surfactaut ions, and preci-pitates, should play an important role in such flotations as ion flotation, precipitate flotation, and coprecipitate flotation.