STTR Phase I: Chemical Sensors for In situ Monitoring of Collector Chemicals in Complex Copper Mine Effluents

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)资助的。这个小型企业技术转让(STTR)第一阶段项目解决了泡沫浮选尚未满足的分析需求，泡沫浮选是采矿业广泛使用的一种分离工艺，用于从所需的矿物颗粒中分离无价值的煤矸石。这一阶段的目标是准备传感器，允许测量浮选悬浮液中使用的捕收剂化学物质。我们建议的传感器将非常适合这些测量，因为它们不受浊度的影响，具有收集器的选择性，可以通过特定的接收器进行调节，并且不需要非连续的样品处理。该项目将利用学术伙伴菲尔·布尔曼推出的高选择性和耐污染的氟全氟聚合物膜。这项研究的更广泛影响是重大的，因为它将使采矿业能够更可持续地进行矿物回收。具体地说，我们的研究旨在显著减少与泡沫浮选相关的有毒化学废物量及其不可避免的环境影响。这种方法有可能使美国铜业更具竞争力，因为它在废铜收集器上节省了逾2亿美元，同时通过消除约89.1万公斤不必要的化学排放，提高了采矿的可持续性。除了这些好处，这个项目的多学科方面将培训学生合成和分析技术，涉及化学、材料科学和工程学的概念。研究生将有机会通过指导性研究和UMN的NSF-REU项目指导参与该项目的本科生。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project addresses unmet analysis needs of froth flotation, a separations process widely used in the mining industry to separate worthless gangue from desired mineral particles. The goal of this Phase I is the preparation of sensors that permit the measurement of collector chemicals used in flotation suspensions. Our proposed sensors are expected to be ideally suited for these measurements since they are not affected by turbidity, have a collector selectivity that can be tuned with specific receptors, and require no off-stream sample handling. The project will take advantage of the highly selective and fouling-resistant fluorous perfluoropolymer membranes introduced by the academic partner Phil Buhlmann. The broader impacts of this research are significant as it will enable the mining industry to be more sustainable in its approach to mineral recovery. Specifically, our research aims to significantly reduce the amount of toxic chemical waste associated with froth flotation and its inevitable environmental impact. The method has the potential of making the US copper industry more competitive by saving over $200 M in wasted collector while simultaneously improving mining sustainability by eliminating an estimated 891,000 kg of unnecessary chemical discharges. In addition to these benefits, the multidisciplinary aspects of this project will train students in synthetic and analytical techniques, involving concepts from chemistry, materials science, and engineering. A graduate student will have the opportunity to mentor an undergraduate students involved in this project through directed research studies and through the NSF-REU programs at the UMN.