Abstract A static simulation test was carried out to study the effects of four kinds of flotation reagents on the release of lead and zinc with Acidthiobacillus ferrooxidans, taking a lead-zinc tailings as the research object in QingHai Province. The results showed that except butylamine aerofloat, redox potential rised and pH value dropped in the leaching systems with other three kinds of xanthate compared with the system added no reagents over time. And the influence order was isobutyl xanthate > ethyl xanthate ≈ amyl xanthate > butylamine aerofloat. The release amounts of Pb and Zn in the leaching systems with xanthate were much larger than that of aerofloat. Also Zn was more easy to dissolve. The largest concentration of Pb and Zn were 77.60, 167.00mg/L on 50th day, respectively. Isobutyl xanthate was best for heavy metal dissolution of Pb and Zn. Three reasons made the difference of dissolution of heavy metals in leaching systems with diverse flotation reagents. They were galvanic effect, the activation on sphalerite of Cu2+ and hydrolysis ability difference of flotation reagents. XRD analysis of tailings residue indicated that new materials were generated in the process of dissolution but the content was not same.
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Received: 28 April 2015
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