Titanium concentrate flotation method

Abstract

The invention relates to the field of mineral processing, and discloses a flotation method for titanium concentrate. The method comprises the steps that S1, desulfurized tailings are obtained and subjected to titanium flotation roughing operation, and roughing concentrate and roughing tailings are obtained; s2, flotation titanium concentration operation is conducted on the roughing concentrate, flotation titanium scavenging operation is conducted on the roughing tailings, and combined materials are obtained; s3, the combined materials are subjected to ore grinding operation, fine particles are obtained, the fine particles are subjected to high-intensity magnetic separation, and high-intensity magnetic concentrate is obtained; and S4, after the strong magnetic concentrate is returned to the feeding position of the flotation titanium roughing operation in the S1, a titanium concentrate product is obtained based on flotation titanium concentration operation. By means of the scheme, the problem of recycling of the ilmenite intergrowth can be effectively solved, and the grade and the metal recycling rate of the ilmenite concentrate are remarkably improved while the process complexity and the reagent consumption are reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of mineral processing, and more particularly to a flotation method for titanium concentrate. Background Technology

[0002] Titanium is an important strategic resource, possessing excellent properties such as light weight, high strength, and corrosion resistance. It is widely used in aerospace, marine engineering, high-end coatings, and chemical industries, and has been listed as a critical strategic metal by many countries. Although my country has abundant titanium reserves, they mainly exist in the form of low-grade vanadium-titanium magnetite, which has a complex mineral composition, fine particle size, and is difficult to float.

[0003] In existing technologies, a typical flotation process is commonly used to recover ilmenite from iron ore tailings. This process generally begins by desulfurizing the raw flotation ore to remove impurities such as sulfur and cobalt. The resulting desulfurized tailings then enter the titanium flotation system. The titanium flotation process typically consists of one roughing stage, multiple scavenging stages (e.g., two stages), and multiple cleaning stages (e.g., four stages). The cleaned tailings and scavenged concentrate are usually returned to the preceding stages to form a middlings cycle, ultimately yielding titanium concentrate and tailings.

[0004] However, the aforementioned existing technologies have significant limitations. Since ilmenite in the raw ore often exists as a fine-grained intergrowth with gangue minerals, in conventional flotation processes, these intergrowth minerals either fail to fully liberate due to their complex surface characteristics before entering the concentrate, leading to a decrease in the final titanium concentrate grade, or they are lost in the tailings due to their poor floatability, resulting in a low titanium recovery rate. While the recycling of middlings aims to recover useful minerals, it also causes problems such as high internal circulation load, increased reagent consumption, and reduced separation efficiency.

[0005] Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop a new flotation method for titanium concentrate. Summary of the Invention

[0006] In view of this, the present invention proposes a flotation method for titanium concentrate, which can effectively solve the problem of recovering ilmenite intergrowths. While reducing process complexity and reagent consumption, it significantly improves the grade and metal recovery rate of titanium concentrate, thereby eliminating the dependence on imported high-quality titanium concentrate.

[0007] To achieve the above objectives, one aspect of the present invention provides a flotation method for titanium concentrate, specifically comprising the following steps: S1, obtain desulfurization tailings and perform titanium flotation roughing operation on them to obtain roughing concentrate and roughing tailings; S2 involves performing titanium flotation cleaning on the roughing concentrate and titanium flotation scavenging on the roughing tailings to obtain combined materials. S3, the combined materials are ground to obtain fine particles, and the fine particles are subjected to strong magnetic separation to obtain strong magnetic concentrate; S4 returns the strong magnetic concentrate to the feed point of the titanium flotation roughing operation in S1, and then obtains titanium concentrate products based on the titanium flotation cleaning operation.

[0008] According to one embodiment of the present invention, in step S1, the flotation raw ilmenite is subjected to desulfurization to obtain desulfurized tailings.

[0009] According to one embodiment of the present invention, in step S1, the mass concentration of the flotation ore is 40% to 65%, and the mass percentage content of TiO2 in the flotation ore is 15% to 30%.

[0010] According to one embodiment of the present invention, in step S2, the number of times the titanium flotation and selection operation is 1 to 5, the number of times the titanium flotation and scavenging operation is 1 to 3, and the titanium flotation and selection operation adopts an open-circuit process in whole or in part.

[0011] According to one embodiment of the present invention, in step S2, the tailings generated from each titanium flotation and cleaning operation are combined with the concentrate generated from each titanium flotation and scavenging operation to obtain a combined material.

[0012] According to one embodiment of the present invention, in step S3, a ball mill or a tower mill is used for grinding operations.

[0013] According to one embodiment of the present invention, in step S3, the ore discharged after the grinding operation is classified to obtain fine particles and coarse ore, and the coarse ore is returned to the feed point of the grinding operation.

[0014] According to one embodiment of the present invention, in step S3, a hydrocyclone or a high-frequency fine screen is used for classification.

[0015] According to one embodiment of the present invention, in step S3, a vertical ring strong magnetic separator, a horizontal ring strong magnetic separator, or a periodic strong magnetic separator is used for strong magnetic separation. The strong magnetic separation includes one strong magnetic coarse separation, one to three strong magnetic fine separations, and one to three strong magnetic sweep separations.

[0016] According to one embodiment of the present invention, in step S4, the strong magnetic concentrate is concentrated and then returned to the feed point of the titanium flotation roughing operation in S1, where it is concentrated using an inclined plate or a thickener.

[0017] This invention offers at least the following beneficial technical effects: The titanium concentrate flotation method of this invention combines the tailings from the titanium flotation cleaning operation with the concentrate from the titanium flotation scavenging operation, then performs separate grinding and high-intensity magnetic separation. The resulting high-intensity magnetic concentrate is then returned to the titanium flotation roughing operation, creating a highly efficient reprocessing and return closed loop for intergrowth minerals. This effectively forces the dissociation of insufficiently dissociated ilmenite intergrowths and pre-enriches them through high-intensity magnetic separation, thus preventing them from directly entering the concentrate in the main flotation process and lowering the grade, or entering the tailings and causing metal loss. This invention can significantly reduce the internal circulating load and reagent consumption of the flotation system while simultaneously improving the grade of the final titanium concentrate product and the recovery rate of titanium metal. Attached Figure Description

[0018] To more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the drawings used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other embodiments can be obtained based on these drawings without creative effort.

[0019] Figure 1 A block diagram illustrating an embodiment of the flotation method for titanium concentrate provided by the present invention; Figure 2 A schematic diagram of an embodiment of the flotation method for titanium concentrate provided by the present invention; Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram of a traditional flotation method for titanium concentrate. Detailed Implementation

[0020] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the present invention clearer, the embodiments of the present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to specific examples and the accompanying drawings.

[0021] It should be noted that all uses of "first" and "second" in the embodiments of the present invention are for the purpose of distinguishing two entities or parameters with the same name but different names. It is clear that "first" and "second" are only for the convenience of expression and should not be construed as limiting the embodiments of the present invention. Subsequent embodiments will not explain this in detail.

[0022] To achieve the above objectives, this invention proposes a flotation method for titanium concentrate. By combining the flotation process with grinding and high-intensity magnetic separation, and recycling specific intermediate products, it achieves efficient recovery and enrichment of ilmenite resources. This method is particularly suitable for producing high-quality titanium concentrate products from titanium-containing flotation ores. Figure 1 As shown, it includes the following steps: S1, obtain desulfurization tailings and perform titanium flotation roughing operation on them to obtain roughing concentrate and roughing tailings; S2 involves performing titanium flotation cleaning on the roughing concentrate and titanium flotation scavenging on the roughing tailings to obtain combined materials. S3, the combined materials are ground to obtain fine particles, and the fine particles are subjected to strong magnetic separation to obtain strong magnetic concentrate; S4 returns the strong magnetic concentrate to the feed point of the titanium flotation roughing operation in S1, and then obtains titanium concentrate products based on the titanium flotation cleaning operation.

[0023] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the desulfurized tailings used in step S1 are obtained by pre-desulfurizing the flotation ore of ilmenite. The core purpose of the desulfurization operation is to remove sulfur from the flotation ore to avoid the sulfur from affecting the quality of the subsequent titanium concentrate. After the desulfurization operation, cobalt-sulfurized rough concentrate and desulfurized tailings are obtained simultaneously. The mass concentration of the flotation ore is 40%~65%, and the mass percentage content of TiO2 in the flotation ore is 15%~30%. This parameter range is determined based on the flotation characteristics of ilmenite and the process requirements of subsequent operations, which can ensure the fluidity of the slurry and the sufficiency of the flotation reaction during the titanium flotation operation, laying the foundation for the high-quality flotation of the subsequent titanium concentrate.

[0024] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the titanium flotation roughing operation in step S1 refers to a physicochemical process in which desulfurization tailings are used as feed, and flotation reagents such as collectors, inhibitors, and frothers are added to the flotation equipment. Aeration and stirring are used to selectively attach ilmenite to air bubbles and cause it to float, thereby separating it from gangue minerals. The titanium flotation roughing operation will produce two products: one is the product collected on the float, called the roughing concentrate, which is mainly rich in ilmenite; the other is the product remaining in the tank, called the roughing tailings, which has a lower ilmenite content.

[0025] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the number of titanium flotation and refining operations in step S2 is 1 to 5, and the number of titanium flotation and scavenging operations is 1 to 3. The specific number of operations can be adjusted according to the grade of the raw ore, the degree of liberation of ilmenite, and the quality requirements of the target titanium concentrate. The titanium flotation and refining operation can be carried out entirely using an open-circuit process, or partially using an open-circuit process, that is, the tailings generated are not returned to the previous stage operation, but are instead treated as middlings. The open-circuit process design can provide a fast flotation channel for the fully liberated ilmenite, avoid over-processing of the fully liberated ilmenite in the circulating process, and improve flotation efficiency.

[0026] The titanium flotation and refining operation is carried out as follows: the rough concentrate obtained in step S1 is sequentially fed into each refining operation, and the concentrate obtained in the previous refining operation is used as the feed for the next refining operation. Through multiple refining operations, gangue minerals in the rough concentrate are gradually removed to improve the grade of ilmenite.

[0027] The execution method of the titanium flotation scavenging operation is as follows: the roughing tailings obtained in step S1 are sequentially fed into each scavenging operation, and the tailings obtained in the previous scavenging operation are used as the feed for the next scavenging operation. Through multiple scavenging operations, the ilmenite that has not been enriched in the roughing tailings is fully recovered.

[0028] like Figure 2 As shown, the tailings from each titanium flotation and titanium cleaning operation are combined with the concentrate from each titanium flotation and titanium scavenging operation. The tailings from the titanium flotation and titanium cleaning operation contain some incompletely liberated intergrowth ilmenite (particles where ilmenite and gangue minerals are not completely separated), and the titanium flotation and titanium scavenging concentrate is also enriched with some ilmenite. Combining the two for subsequent processing avoids the intergrowth ilmenite from directly entering the final tailings, which would reduce titanium recovery, and also prevents it from directly entering the titanium concentrate, which would lower the product grade.

[0029] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the purpose of grinding the combined materials in step S3 is to fully liberate the intergrowth ilmenite in the combined materials, providing conditions for efficient flotation in subsequent high-intensity magnetic separation. The grinding operation uses either a ball mill or a tower mill, both of which are characterized by high grinding efficiency and good liberation effect. The appropriate equipment type can be selected based on the particle size characteristics of the combined materials to ensure that the degree of liberation of the intergrowth ilmenite meets the requirements of subsequent flotation.

[0030] The discharge from the grinding process needs to be classified. The purpose of classification is to separate fine particles that meet the requirements of strong magnetic separation, while returning the coarse ore that exceeds the size requirement to the grinding process for regrinding. The equipment used for classification is a hydrocyclone or a high-frequency fine screen. The grinding discharge is fed into the hydrocyclone or high-frequency fine screen. Through the classification action of the equipment, the fine particles (particles that meet the size requirements of strong magnetic separation) enter the subsequent strong magnetic separation process, while the coarse ore (particles that do not meet the size requirements) is returned to the feeding point of the grinding process for further grinding until its particle size meets the classification requirements.

[0031] High-intensity magnetic separation is used to remove gangue minerals from fine-grained minerals, further improving the grade of ilmenite. The equipment used in high-intensity magnetic separation includes vertical ring high-intensity magnetic separators, horizontal ring high-intensity magnetic separators, or periodic high-intensity magnetic separators. These devices generate strong magnetic fields, utilizing the magnetic differences between ilmenite and gangue minerals to achieve separation. The process of high-intensity magnetic separation can employ any combination of one high-intensity magnetic roughing, one to three high-intensity magnetic cleaning, and one to three high-intensity magnetic scavenging. Through multiple high-intensity magnetic separation operations, gangue minerals in the fine-grained minerals are thoroughly removed, ultimately yielding a high-intensity magnetic concentrate and high-intensity magnetic tailings. The tailings are treated as waste slag.

[0032] According to one embodiment of the present invention, the concentration treatment of the strong magnetic concentrate in step S4 is to increase the concentration of the strong magnetic concentrate, so that it can be better mixed with the desulfurization tailings and meet the slurry concentration requirements of the titanium flotation roughing operation. The equipment used for the concentration operation is an inclined plate or thickener. Through the settling action of the equipment, the water in the strong magnetic concentrate is separated to obtain a concentrated strong magnetic concentrate with the required concentration. The separated overflow water can be recycled in the mineral processing flow, realizing the recycling of water resources. Subsequently, the concentrated strong magnetic concentrate is returned to the feed point of the titanium flotation roughing operation in step S1, mixed with the desulfurization tailings, and then jointly enters the titanium flotation roughing operation to form a circulating flotation process, such as... Figure 2 As shown in the diagram, this cyclic process reintroduces ilmenite enriched by high-intensity magnetic separation into the titanium flotation system, preventing ilmenite loss. Simultaneously, the high-intensity magnetic concentrate, after grinding, classification, and high-intensity magnetic separation, has a high grade, improving the feed quality for the titanium flotation roughing operation and thus increasing the efficiency of subsequent cleaning operations. In the titanium flotation cleaning operation, the concentrate obtained from the final cleaning operation is the final titanium concentrate product. This product, after multiple flotation and cyclic enrichment, effectively improves both the grade and recovery rate of titanium.

[0033] The flotation method for titanium concentrate of this invention combines the tailings from the titanium flotation cleaning operation with the concentrate from the titanium flotation scavenging operation, and then performs separate grinding and high-intensity magnetic separation. The resulting high-intensity magnetic concentrate is then returned to the titanium flotation roughing operation, constructing a highly efficient reprocessing and return closed loop for intergrowth minerals. This effectively forces the dissociation of insufficiently liberated ilmenite intergrowths and pre-enriches them through high-intensity magnetic separation, thereby preventing them from directly entering the concentrate in the main flotation process and lowering the grade, or entering the tailings and causing metal loss. This invention can significantly reduce the internal circulation load and reagent consumption of the flotation system while simultaneously improving the grade of the final titanium concentrate product and the recovery rate of titanium metal.

[0034] Example by Figure 2 For example, using raw titanium ore from a titanium beneficiation plant in the Panxi region for flotation operations, the high-quality titanium concentrate flotation process of this invention is as follows: The raw flotation ore is subjected to desulfurization. The raw flotation ore has a mass concentration of 40%~65% and a TiO2 grade of 20.81%. After desulfurization, cobalt sulfur concentrate and desulfurization tailings are obtained. The desulfurization tailings are fed into the titanium flotation roughing operation to obtain roughing concentrate and roughing tailings; The roughing concentrate is sequentially fed into four cleaning operations: titanium flotation concentrate I, titanium flotation concentrate II, titanium flotation concentrate III, and titanium flotation concentrate IV. The roughing tailings are sequentially fed into two scavenging operations: titanium flotation scavenger I and titanium flotation scavenger II. All titanium flotation cleaning operations adopt an open-circuit process. The tailings of titanium concentrate I, titanium concentrate II, titanium concentrate III, and titanium concentrate IV are combined with the concentrates of titanium scavenger I and titanium scavenger II to obtain the combined material. The combined materials are fed into a ball mill for grinding. The discharged ore after grinding is sent to a high-frequency fine screen (0.1 mm screen size) for classification. The oversize material (i.e. coarse ore) of the high-frequency fine screen is returned to the ball mill for regrinding, and the undersize material (i.e. fine particles) is sent to a periodic high-intensity magnetic separator (magnetic field strength of 1.0 T) for high-intensity magnetic separation to obtain high-intensity magnetic concentrate and high-intensity magnetic tailings. The strong magnetic concentrate is fed into a thickener for thickening. The thickened strong magnetic concentrate is returned to the feed point of the titanium flotation roughing operation, mixed with the desulfurization tailings, and then entered into the titanium flotation roughing operation. The concentrate obtained from the final titanium flotation IV operation is the final titanium concentrate product.

[0035] Comparative Example by Figure 3 For example, using the same titanium concentrate raw ore from a titanium beneficiation plant in the Panxi region as in the aforementioned embodiments, a typical titanium concentrate flotation process is as follows: The flotation raw ore is fed into a desulfurization process to remove sulfur from the raw ore, resulting in cobalt-sulfur crude concentrate and desulfurized tailings. The process parameters for the desulfurization process are consistent with those in the aforementioned embodiment. The desulfurization tailings are fed into the titanium flotation process, which employs a closed-loop cycle of "1 roughing stage + 2 scavenging stages + 4 cleaning stages". The roughing stage processes the desulfurization tailings to obtain rougher concentrate and rougher tailings. The rougher concentrate then sequentially enters the titanium flotation concentrate I through IV stages (4 cleaning stages), with tailings from each cleaning stage returned to the feed point of the previous cleaning stage, forming a cleaning cycle. The rougher tailings then sequentially enter the titanium flotation scavenging stages I through II stages (2 scavenging stages), with concentrate from each scavenging stage returned to the feed point of the previous scavenging stage, forming a scavenging cycle. The concentrate from the final cleaning operation (flotation titanium concentrate IV) is the final titanium concentrate product, and the tailings from the final scavenging operation (flotation titanium scavenging II) are the flotation tailings.

[0036] The indicators of the titanium concentrate products obtained by the present invention and those obtained by a typical titanium concentrate flotation process are shown in Table 1 below.

[0037] Table 1

[0038] In summary, the titanium concentrate flotation method of the present invention employs an open-circuit flotation process, providing a rapid flotation channel for fully liberated ilmenite, enabling rapid and efficient recovery of the fully liberated ilmenite. The intergrowth ilmenite in the tailings and scavenging concentrate is separately ground and classified to ensure its full liberation. Then, gangue minerals are removed using strong magnetic blasting to improve the grade before returning to the roughing flotation process. This avoids the situation where intergrowth ilmenite is incorporated into the concentrate, leading to a decrease in grade, or where intergrowth ilmenite enters the tailings, resulting in a high tailings grade and low titanium recovery rate. The present invention can reduce the flotation cycle load, decrease reagent consumption, and improve enrichment effect, ultimately achieving the effect of improving titanium concentrate quality and titanium recovery rate.

[0039] The above are exemplary embodiments disclosed in this invention. However, it should be noted that various changes and modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the embodiments of this invention as defined by the claims. The functions, steps, and / or actions of the methods according to the disclosed embodiments described herein do not need to be performed in any particular order. Furthermore, although the elements disclosed in the embodiments of this invention may be described or claimed individually, they may be understood as multiple unless explicitly limited to a singular number.

[0040] It should be understood that, as used herein, the singular form “a” is intended to include the plural form as well, unless the context clearly supports an exception. It should also be understood that, as used herein, “and / or” refers to any and all possible combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

[0041] The embodiment numbers disclosed in the above embodiments of the present invention are for descriptive purposes only and do not represent the superiority or inferiority of the embodiments.

[0042] Those skilled in the art should understand that the discussion of any of the above embodiments is merely exemplary and is not intended to imply that the scope of the invention (including the claims) is limited to these examples. Within the framework of the invention, technical features of the above embodiments or different embodiments can be combined, and many other variations of different aspects of the invention exist, which are not provided in the details for the sake of brevity. Therefore, any omissions, modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made within the spirit and principles of the invention should be included within the protection scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A flotation method for titanium concentrate, characterized in that, include: S1, obtain desulfurization tailings and perform titanium flotation roughing operation on them to obtain roughing concentrate and roughing tailings; S2 involves performing titanium flotation cleaning on the roughing concentrate and titanium flotation scavenging on the roughing tailings to obtain combined materials. S3, the combined materials are ground to obtain fine particles, and the fine particles are subjected to strong magnetic separation to obtain strong magnetic concentrate; S4 returns the strong magnetic concentrate to the feed point of the titanium flotation roughing operation in S1, and then obtains titanium concentrate products based on the titanium flotation cleaning operation.

2. The flotation method for titanium concentrate according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step S1, the flotation raw ilmenite is desulfurized to obtain desulfurized tailings.

3. The flotation method for titanium concentrate according to claim 2, characterized in that, In step S1, the mass concentration of the flotation ore is 40%~65%, and the mass percentage content of TiO2 in the flotation ore is 15%~30%.

4. The flotation method for titanium concentrate according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step S2, the number of titanium flotation and selection operations is 1 to 5, the number of titanium flotation and scavenging operations is 1 to 3, and the titanium flotation and selection operations are all or partly carried out using an open-circuit process.

5. The flotation method for titanium concentrate according to claim 4, characterized in that, In step S2, the tailings generated from each titanium flotation and cleaning operation are combined with the concentrate generated from each titanium flotation and scavenging operation to obtain a combined material.

6. The flotation method for titanium concentrate according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step S3, a ball mill or a tower mill is used for grinding.

7. The flotation method for titanium concentrate according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step S3, the ore discharged after the grinding operation is classified to obtain fine and coarse ore, and the coarse ore is returned to the feed point of the grinding operation.

8. The flotation method for titanium concentrate according to claim 7, characterized in that, In step S3, a hydrocyclone or a high-frequency fine screen is used for grading.

9. The flotation method for titanium concentrate according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step S3, a vertical ring strong magnetic separator, a horizontal ring strong magnetic separator, or a periodic strong magnetic separator is used for strong magnetic separation. The strong magnetic separation includes one strong magnetic coarse separation, one to three strong magnetic fine separations, and one to three strong magnetic sweep separations.

10. The flotation method for titanium concentrate according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step S4, the strong magnetic concentrate is concentrated and then returned to the feed point of the titanium flotation roughing operation in S1, where it is concentrated using a slant plate or a thickener.

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