Influence of different comminution flowsheets on the separation of vanadium titano-magnetite

Abstract

Comparative separation tests of vanadium titano-magnetite (VTM) were conducted in this study by employing a high-pressure grinding roller (HPGR) and a jaw crusher (JC); these were followed by a parallel and stage separation, respectively. The results revealed that the products generated with the HPGR are finer with a wider size distribution than those obtained with the conventional JC. The newly formed ore grains after grinding were similar to those of the JC products with a grinding fineness of 65% passing 74 μm. The HPGR product is more beneficial for iron oxide mineral liberation at a coarse grinding fineness. Owing to the preferential liberation of iron-bearing minerals in the primary grinding, a marketable titanium magnetite concentrate can be obtained by magnetic separation via the parallel separation of Fe–Ti. The argillation of iron oxides is more severe during the grinding stage of ilmenite with the JC than with the HPGR. Once the particle size decreased, particularly to less than 19 μm, the difficulty of capturing ilmenite using a magnetic field increased sharply and led to poor floatability.