Surface morphology of malachite in the process of sulfidization

摘要

Sulfidization is a key process for the flotation of copper oxide ores, which affects the flotation performance significantly. The surface morphology of malachite in the process of sulfidization using sodium sulfide as sulfidizer was investigated by SEM and EDS. The surface morphology of malachite presents either in the form of column-like aggregates or fibre-like ones prior to reaction with sodium sulfide. No obvious sulfide layer was observed on the malachite surface when it was dealt with insufficient amount of sodium sulfide. However a uniform sulfide layer was found when it was dealt with optimum amount of sodium sulfide. Furthermore, a snowflake-like crystal appeared on the malachite surface when it was dealt with excessive amount of sodium sulfide, and the snowflake-like crystal is very loose and easy to be peeled off, which can illustrate the difficulties for copper oxide ores flotation in terms of surface morphology.