Abstract A bench scale study was carried out to investigate the influence of polyacrylamides as co-depressant in a blend with starch depressant on the reverse cationic iron ore flotation. The results indicated that the use of polyacrylamides as dual function polymer should be an alternative to improve the flotation process. These polymers act as a depressant and flocculant reagent, decreasing the mechanical entrainment of hydrophilic iron minerals, forming hydrophobic aggregates. Also, the use of polymers as a co-depressant could prevent the possibility of clathrate formation caused by starch and amine overdose. The results obtained showed that cationic and non-ionic polyacrylamides improve the selectivity when applied at low dosages. Only the slightly charged anionic polyacrylamide yielded good results in flotation tests. The design of experiments carried out with non-ionic polyacrylamides showed that flotation results was were affected by the physico-chemical conditions of the system, such as pH, flocculant molecular weight and amine type.

Abstract In the present study, microflotation experiments were performed on pure minerals systems involving hematite and quartz in the presence of etherdiamine as collector. The influence of polyacrylamides as co-depressant was investigated in a blend with starch depressant. The results obtained demonstrated that all the polyacrylamides used were efficient in hematite depression, at different levels and following the order of effectiveness: cationic > non-ionic > anionic. The depressant power was proportional to the degree of ionicity and the molecular weight. It is proposed that the enhanced performance is due to the presence of two functional groups, the cationic group adsorbing by electrostatic interaction and the amide group –C(=O)NH2 adsorbing by hydrogen bonding. Non-ionic polyacrylamides indicated similar performances for different molecular weights and the proposed adsorption mechanism is hydrogen bonding associated with the amide group. Electrostatic repulsion did not have deleterious action on the adsorption of anionic polymers on hematite, nevertheless the adsorption on quartz was impaired. Polyacrylamides adsorb on quartz, although at a weaker intensity than on hematite.

The effect of two papaya seed extracts (infusion and acid extracts) on the corrosion of carbon steel in 1 mol L-1 HCl was examined. The efficiency for inhibiting the corrosion of C-steel in 1 mol L-1 HCl increased with the extract concentration and decreased slightly with the temperature. The inhibitory property of the extract is discussed in terms of the mechanism by which its components adsorb onto the C-steel surface decreasing the active surface area. This adsorption process obeyed a Langmuir adsorption isotherm. The infusion extract which presented more phenolic compounds than the acid extract showed higher inhibition efficiency. The apparent activation energy (Ea) for the dissolution of C-steel slightly increased when the infusion extract was used.