Function and mechanism of sodium silicate in the cleaning process of ilmenite rough concentrate

The grade of titanium dioxide (TiO2) from Panzhihua titanium concentrate (defined as the ilmenite rough concentrate in this paper) is generally around 47%. The high impurity content in the titanium concentrate causes difficulties for its successive use in the production of titania pigment. Further purification of the ilmenite concentrate will make it more useful for industrial use. In this study, a further cleaning process of the ilmenite rough concentrate is conducted using sodium silicate as the depressant, and the function of sodium silicate is determined by flotation, absorption measurements, Zeta potential measurements, and infrared spectral analysis. The results indicate that an ilmenite concentrate with a TiO2  grade of 50.37% can be achieved from 46.78% according to the stages on the flowsheet-one roughing, three cleaning and one scavenging-under the optimal conditions, and can also reflect the advantages of the excellent selectivity of sodium silicate. Sodium silicate can hinder the adsorption of salicylhydroxamic acid (SHA) on the titanaugite surface but has almost no effect on ilmenite. Multiple methods comprehensively confirm that sodium silicate provides a good selective depression effect for the further purification of the ilmenite rough concentrate.

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Opracowanie rekordu ze środków MNiSW, umowa Nr 461252 w ramach programu "Społeczna odpowiedzialność nauki" - moduł: Popularyzacja nauki i promocja sportu (2020).