Removal of titanium impurities from feldspar ores by new flotation collectors

The principal impurities in some feldspar ores are titanium and iron, which impart color and in turn degrade the quality of the ore. Mineralogical inv estigations on the majority of Turkish feldspar ores indicate that rutile a nd, scarcely, sphene are the major titanium minerals and iron mainly origin ates from mica minerals. Conventionally, fatty acids, and particularly sodi um oleate, are extensively used to float discoloring minerals from feldspar ores with reasonable success. In this study, new collectors, oleoyl sarcos ine and hydroxamate, reported for the first time in the literature, have be en used to float titanium impurities. It is found that compared to fatty ac ids these reagents achieve superior results. The mechanism of the action is elaborated on the basis of experimental data. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Lt d. All rights reserved.