STUDY OF GRANULATION PROCESS OF ILMENITE CONCENTRATE BY PELLETING METHOD

Abstract

The use of highly dispersed ilmenite ore in the titanium concentrate enrichment technology is accompanied by high dustiness at the stage of titanium charge preparation, which inevitably leads to technological losses and adversely affects the working conditions of the staff. In connection with this, the aim of the present work was to study the process of granulating ilmenite concentrate from the Malyshevsky deposit by pelletization. The size and morphology of ilmenite concentrate particles were determined using a high-resolution electron scanning microscope and a laser diffraction particle size analyzer. The granulation process was carried out in a drum granulator thermostated by assessing the effect of temperature, rotation speed granulator, process duration and a binder flow rate on particle size distribution and static strength formed granules of the title product. During the investigations it was established that the maximum yield of granules fraction of 1.0 - 5.0 mm was obtained using an aqueous solution of molasses molasses volume ratio: water = 5:1. The use as undiluted molasses binder leads to a strong increase in ductility formed mass and negatively affects the possibility of producing a granular product. It was shown that with increasing concentration of binder in the composition of the starting mixture the average yield and static strength of granules fraction of 1.0 - 5.0 mm increases, due to the uniform distribution of the solution between the ilmenite concentrate particles. At the same time when the amount of binder in the composition of the starting raw materials over 9.5% the formation of relatively large lumps is observed, which size is more than 5.0 mm. It has been experimentally proved that with increasing duration pelletization yield pellets of ilmenite concentrate fraction of 1.0 - 5.0 mm increases, passing through a maximum at 300 s.