Investigation of titanium recovery potentialities from bauxite ore with high titanium content

Titanium (Ti), an important element for many industries due to its properties such as strength, lightness, and corrosion resistance, is traditionally produced from minerals such as ilmenite and rutile. However, the limited nature of these resources and environmental concerns have necessitated the evaluation of alternative resources. One of these alternative resources is Ti-containing bauxite ore. Accordingly, in this thesis, the recovery of Ti minerals from bauxite ore containing 26.5% Fe2O3, 40.40% Al2O3, 21% SiO2, and 6.60% TiO2 located in the Gaziantep-İslahiye (Turkey) region was studied. In this context, mechanical mixing and ultrasound-assisted clay dispersion and removal, gravity separation with a Knelson concentrator, high-field, dry magnetic separation, and flotation methods were employed. In gravity separation experiments with a Knelson concentrator, the highest grade was 5.57% TiO2 at 30 kPa fluidization water pressure, while the highest recovery was 19.18% at 20 kPa. With high field intensity, dry magnetic separation, a non-magnetic material with a grade of 17.90% Fe2O3 was obtained with a recovery of 56.80%. Under these conditions, the TiO2 grade of the concentrate was 6.11%. The results of this study showed that mechanical mixing was insufficient for clay removal, while ultrasound application yielded better results. Ultrasound-assisted clay dispersion and removal experiments resulted in 6.30% of the material being removed as slime, and the SiO2 content of the material decreased from 21.00% to 16.87%. However, the flotation experiments did not yield sufficient beneficiation. While a concentrate with a grade of 6.37% TiO2 was recovered with a yield of 10.3% in the presence of 200 g/ton R845 and 600 g/ton starch, the highest yield was 33.20% in the presence of 800 g/ton R845 and 600 g/ton starch, and the concentrate TiO2 grade under these conditions was 6.20%. As a result of this thesis study, it was demonstrated that titanium could not be recovered efficiently by the flotation method under the applied conditions.