fatty acid

A fatty acid is a generic term for an aliphatic organic acid having a carboxyl group in a molecule. In the beneficiation industry, the hydroxyl-based collector used in flotation. Its general formula is R-COOH, and the R group is a linear or branched alkane group, an alkene group or a cycloalkyl group. According to its carbon chain length and nature, it can be used as a foaming agent, inhibitor and dispersant in addition to being used as a collector. Natural animal and vegetable oils and oils are the main raw materials for fatty acids. After the oil or fat is hydrolyzed or saponified, it is decomposed into a fatty acid or a fatty acid soap (sodium soap or potassium soap), and the soap is re-acidified to form a fatty acid. The naphthenic acid sodium soap by-product is obtained by washing some crude petroleum fraction with a base, and then acidified to obtain naphthenic acid. The hydrocarbon compounds such as refined kerosene and paraffin are further subjected to deep oxidation and separation to obtain a mixed fatty acid or a relatively pure single fatty acid. Fatty acids are customarily classified into lower fatty acids and higher fatty acids according to the length of their carbon chains. A molecule having less than ten carbon atoms is a lower fatty acid, and a carbon number of ten or more is a higher fatty acid. Fatty acids have unsaturated bonds (such as double bonds) in the carbon chain called unsaturated fatty acids, and unsaturated bonds are called saturated fatty acids. Natural unsaturated fatty acids are mainly oleic acid, linoleic acid, linolenic acid and ricinoleic acid. Natural saturated fatty acids are mainly stearic acid, palmitic acid, myristic acid, lauric acid, citric acid, caprylic acid and caproic acid. Higher fatty acids have higher foam stability than lower fatty acids. For example, the sodium salts of oleic acid, linoleic acid and stearic acid can form a stable foam. The concentration of the agent in the foam layer is higher than the concentration of the agent in the slurry. When the concentration of the different drug solutions reaches a certain value, the solution clearly forms a micelle, and the concentration of the agent when a single molecule or ion starts to aggregate into the ordered molecular group is called the "critical micelle concentration" of the agent. This concentration is closely related to the flotation and collection. For example, the adsorption of sodium oleate by magnetite increases with the increase of the concentration of the agent, and the floatability also increases. However, when the concentration of the agent rises to be close to the critical micelle concentration, the floatability drops significantly and even tends to zero.