Innovative pre-concentration technology for recovering ultrafine ilmenite using superconducting high gradient magnetic separator

Abstract

To achieve the utilization of the abandoned ultrafine ilmenite (−20 μm) produced in the titanium magnetite processing plant in Panzhihua, the superconducting high-gradient magnetic separation (SMS) technology was proposed in this study. After optimizing the conditions of magnetic intensity, feeding and pulsation, an SMS concentrate with TiO2 grade of 16.03% and TiO2 recovery of 66.39% was obtained through one roughing–one cleaning pre-concentration flowsheet. The specific magnetic force and magnetic force were calculated and analysed to illustrate the pre-concentration mechanism, and the results revealed that the combination of high magnetic field and strong pulsating resulted in the effective pre-concentration of the ultrafine ilmenite in the SMS process. In addition, the magnetic force analysis indicated that the high magnetic intensity and high magnetic gradient are the key factors of the SMS technology. Furthermore, the EDS-Mapping detection certified that the ultrafine ilmenite was concentrated from the gangue minerals using SMS technology.

Keywords

• Ultrafine ilmenite
• Superconducting high gradient magnetic separation
• Pre-concentration
• EDS-Mapping