Introduction to the beneficiation process of ilmenite

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Ilmenite is the main mineral resource for obtaining titanium, because titanium is widely used in many industrial fields and has important value. In order to effectively extract ilmenite from ore, a variety of beneficiation methods can be used, including gravity separation, magnetic separation, flotation and electrostatic separation, as well as their combined application. Let's take a look at several common ilmenite beneficiation processes.

1. Ilmenite gravity separation process

Since the specific gravity of titanium minerals is greater than that of non-metallic gangue minerals, gravity separation can be used for the separation of ilmenite. This method is suitable for ilmenite with coarse-grained impregnation and fine-grained aggregate impregnation. The general gravity separation process is to remove gangue minerals and desludging through gravity separation equipment such as jigging, spiral chute, and shaking table after coarse and medium crushing, which has the characteristics of low production cost and less environmental pollution.

2. Titanium ore magnetic separation process

Titanium ore is a weakly magnetic mineral. Under the same volume, the volume magnetization intensity of ilmenite is much greater than that of gangue minerals. Through strong magnetic separation, ilmenite and gangue minerals can be effectively separated to achieve the purpose of enrichment. It is often used in the selection process and has a good effect on the separation of coarse-grained and fine-grained ilmenite. Depending on the type of ilmenite ore, the magnetic field strength selected during magnetic separation is also different.

Ilmenite mostly exists in the ore deposit in the form of complex solid solution, which is easy to produce ilmenite platelets with higher magnetic susceptibility, and the magnetization difference with the gangue increases, which is easy to be separated by magnetic separation. Some ilmenite sand ores contain a large amount of impurities and sludge. This kind of ore can be separated from iron ore by weak magnetic separation after primary grinding, and then separated from titanium ore by medium and strong magnetic separation to improve the recovery rate of ore.

3. Ilmenite flotation process

Flotation plays a key role in the extraction process of ilmenite. It includes several different methods such as conventional flotation, flocculation flotation, agglomeration flotation and carrier flotation. Conventional flotation mainly improves the collection performance by adding collectors such as oleic acid and its soaps, oxidized paraffin soaps, and tall oil, and by adjusting the temperature, increasing the oxygen content or adding emulsifiers. It is suitable for the selection of primary titanium ore and the separation of fine-grained ilmenite.
Flocculation flotation is divided into selective flocculation flotation and hydrophobic flocculation flotation. The former selectively flocculates fine-grained ilmenite by adding flocculants such as polyacrylamide, while the latter uses the hydrophobic effect between ore particles to make them agglomerate and float, which has certain advantages in the recovery of fine-grained ilmenite.

Agglomeration flotation method uses the adsorption of collector on the surface of ilmenite to make the ore particles hydrophobic, and uses the capillary attraction of the bridge liquid to make the ore particles float as a whole, which has certain requirements for stirring intensity. The carrier flotation method uses floatable particle-grade minerals as carriers to load fine particle-grade ilmenite to achieve flotation separation.

In order to improve the flotation effect, inhibitors such as water glass, sodium hexametaphosphate, acidified water glass, etc. are usually added to inhibit the influence of gangue minerals and optimize flotation indicators. The flotation process is usually carried out under the condition of pH value of 4.0 to 6.0 to ensure a reasonable flotation effect.

4. Ilmenite electrostatic separation process

Electrostatic separation is mainly a method for treating ilmenite ore containing non-conductive impurities such as titanium pyroxene, and is the gatekeeper of titanium concentrate.

5. Ilmenite combined separation process

The treatment method of ilmenite is determined by its own properties. When the composition of ilmenite is complex, it is difficult to achieve a good separation effect with one beneficiation method. Therefore, a combined process flow is required. Common ilmenite combined process flows include magnetic separation-flotation method, magnetic separation-gravity separation method, gravity separation-flotation method, gravity separation-magnetic separation-flotation-electrostatic separation method, etc.

Since the density of titanium ore is relatively large compared to gangue minerals, gravity separation is often used as pretreatment or roughing tailings. Although its production cost is low, the operation is simple, and the index is high, there are problems such as high water consumption and poor separation of fine particles.
Magnetic separation is widely used in the selection of titanium-containing minerals, and the separation of gangue with small density differences is achieved, but the separation of fine particles such as 0.038 mm is difficult.
Electrostatic separation is suitable for the selection of titanium minerals, especially when the rough concentrate contains non-conductive minerals such as zircon in addition to ilmenite and rutile, it can be separated by electrostatic separation. Its advantages are good selection performance, especially for the removal of difficult-to-separate titanite. Its disadvantages are the need for dry ore feeding and small processing capacity.
Flotation is used for the separation of primary titanium-containing ores, especially for the separation of fine-grained titanium-containing ores, and sometimes for the selection of coarse concentrates. Although it is targeted and efficient, titanite has a serious impact on the recovery of ilmenite, and conventional flotation, flocculation flotation, and agglomeration flotation cannot effectively separate fine titanite. The combined method gives full play to the advantages of the above titanium selection methods.

When selecting the beneficiation method of ilmenite, in view of the complexity of the mineral properties of ilmenite and the differences in the mineral properties of different deposits, it is necessary to clarify the characteristics of the ore through beneficiation tests, determine the appropriate beneficiation process and ilmenite equipment, and ensure the ideal beneficiation effect.