Measurement of contact angle of copper-bearing shales using the captive bubble method

Abstract

This paper describes the measurement of contact angle of the natural surface of copper-bearing shales immersed in solutions of selected reagents of various concentrations using captive bubble method. It demonstrates that the copper-bearing shales coming from Legnicko-Głogwski Copper Region develop natural hydrophobic properties in surfactant (frother) solutions and its hydrophobicity decreases from 82⁰ contact angle in distilled water, 78⁰ in C4E1 solutions, 76⁰ in C4E2 solutions, to 75⁰ in dodecylphenol solutions. These data show that the addition of frother causes a decrease of shale hydrophobicity but it can reduce stability of the thin film between the grain and air bubble. It means that flotation of copperbearing shales in the presence of frother will only be possible provided specific concentrations.

Keywords

• contact angle
• hydrophobicity
• hydrophilicity
• flotation