Effect of Magnesium Ion on Sylvite Flotation: an Experiment and Molecular Dynamic Simulation Study

In this work, the ions hydration insights into the effects of Mg2+ on KCl flotation were investigated. The flotation tests show that the recovery of KCl was sharply decreased with addition of Mg2+. The radial distribution function of water molecules indicates that Mg2+ has strong hydration ability. Molecular Dynamic simulation results show that the hydration of Mg2+ will significantly strengthen the cohesive energy of hydration layers on KCl surface. As a result, it is difficult for the collector molecule to pass the hydration layers in MgCl2 solution. The experimental results are well consistent with the simulation results.