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Titanium Processing after Gravity Separation (11 replies and 1 comment)
Check website (http://www.iluka.com/company-overview/mining-processing).
The question I have for Reza is what type of titanium minerals are you interested in with regard to downstream processing?
Nearly all titaniferous minerals end up as titania/synthetic rutile (TiO2) through one means or another, since the bulk of titanium ends up as pigment, mainly used in applications such as white paint (700g/L). For ilmenite, this can mean a hydrometallurgical route such as the Becher process or a pyro-metallurgical route such as the QIT process, where a titania rich slag is produced.
For other titanium minerals, such as rutile, leucoxene and the synthetic rutile derived from treated ilmenite, there are two hydrometallurgical routes to produce pigment - the chloride and sulphate route, depending upon titania content and associated gangue.
Each route is a discipline unto itself and I am sure that there are far more qualified people who discuss these processes in greater detail.
Finally, where titanium metal is produced, relatively pure titania is converted into the tetrachloride, the solution purified to remove mainly vanadium (depends on the source of the titania), and then contacted over time with magnesium metal.
In the past, we used the Multi Gravity Separator to process TiO2 at Millennium with great success. The Chlorides caused a few issues with the steel structure of the machine but this can be overcome.
I would say we had more than a few issues with the MGS and corrosion. But yes by using more suitable materials such as hastelloys in the wetted areas the MGS would be an ideal tool. Millenium Chemicals was also the birth place of a few of my development ideas for the MGS which is now taking righfull place as the ultimate enhanced gravity tool of choice.
The chemical process of concentrating ilmenite and rutile minerals. Mineral sands are physically concentrated using gravity separation (spirals or tables). Ilmenite, rutile and leucoxene have higher SG(4~5) compared to quartz, garnet and kyanite (2.7~3.6). This difference in SG is used to separate the heavy mineral sands from quartz and clays.
As a matter of fact, we are facing at the beginning of an industrial gravity concentration of such these ores, and because of this I need a commercial flow sheet or industrial samples that works in this area.
Ahh! It is clear that you would be interested in magnetic separation and electrical separation (if you have zircon present).
Lots of information around about these processes and associated flowsheets - but again it depends upon what is present i.e. mineralogy (ilmenite, leucoxene, zircon, rutile, monazite) and the proportions?
The XRD test shows the absence of zircons, monazite (the amount is less than 0.02%) and what it says is the gravity separation of this ore(Or maybe some other methods).
A commercial flow sheet that treats such this ore type in gravity concentration method but it will be useful to check the mixture of two methods of "gravity separation" and "magnetic separation". May you help me to find such this flow sheet? Although the second is not the one I 'm searching but it will be help to have a general view of titanium processing.
Does this mean that you have ilmenite, rutile and leucoxene? It will affect which flowsheet you adopt. After the first processing stage (gravity), this separation technique will not be of any value in separating these minerals. You can of course, use magnetic separation as the first processing stage if ilmenite is the economic mineral present and it is in high concentrations.
You should get full information about the ore, especially the degree of liberation. If it is high enough for gravity separation, then u can use spiral, Wilfley table, and maybe magnetic separation. This is what I have used in my MS thesis for the beneficiation of a titanium deposit.
I think it is all depends on the concentration of ROM (Run of Mine) because it is varying by every square metre at mining area. First we should have an idea on the mining area ROM concentration after that Mineral content in the ROM. once we came to know the % of minerals in the ROM , then it will be easy to decide the requirements.
Sounds like you are after wet circuit processing of titanium bearing sands. Narrow industry. Check the sites of the few operators (Rio Tinto, Iluka, Tronox....) and few equipment suppliers (Mineral Technologies, Multotec, Outotec) for useful info. Richards Bay Minerals site gives a brief description of their process and Kenmare Resources site has a very nice few minute video on mining and processing titanium bearing (and other) mineral sands. A wet gravity circuit will be a few stages of spirals and possibly an elutriation unit like a Floatex. Depending on the minerals present, you may also find magnetic separators, shaking tables, cyclones, attrition scrubbers, etc. Try to get your hands on proceedings of the Heavy Minerals Conference, held every two years. This is the best collection of technical papers for everything about ilmenite, rutile, zircon and other heavy mineral sands processing.
I'm looking for methods of industrial processing of titanium ores which follows the initial "gravity separations".