Abstract: In order to solve the problem that chlorite and other gangue minerals with certain natural hydrophobicity are easily mixed into concentrate and reduce the quality of concentrate in ilmenite flotation, the inhibition effect and mechanism of a new chlorite inhibitor sodium polystyrene sulfonate ( PSSNa ) were studied. The results of micro flotation test show that PSSNa can selectively inhibit the flotation of chlorite. Under the optimal conditions, the recovery of ilmenite is nearly 50% higher than that of chlorite, which cre⁃ ates good conditions for flotation separation. The contact angle test results showed that sodium polystyrene sulfonate could significantly reduce the hydrophobic effect of sodium oleate on the chlorite surface, but had little effect on the ability of sodium oleate to hydrate ilmenite. The results of infrared spectroscopy showed that compared with ilmenite, PSSNa had chemical adsorption with magnesium atoms on chlorite surface through its sulfonic group, showing selectivity. The adsorption measurement results showed that the adsorp⁃ tion of sodium polystyrene sulfonate prevented the further adsorption of sodium oleate on the chlorite sur⁃ face. The molecular dynamics simulation results explained the selective adsorption and inhibition of the in⁃ hibitor on ilmenite and chlorite at the molecular level.

Key words: polystyrenesulfonate, chlorite, ilmenite, selectivity depression, depressant