Adsorption differences and mechanism of Pb-BHA and Al-BHA in the flotation separation of ilmenite and titanaugite

[Display omitted] •Both Pb-BHA and Al-BHA can substantially improve ilmenite floatability.•Pb-BHA showed greater collectability and Al-BHA showed greater selectivity.•Differences in the active sites of Pb-BHA and Al-BHA adsorption on titanaugite surfaces.•Metal ion complex collector can be more evenly adsorbed on the mineral surface. The excellent flotation performance exhibited by metal ion chelate collectors has been highlighted. In the present research work, the adsorption differences between Pb-BHA and Al-BHA during the flotation separation of ilmenite from titanaugite were compared and the mechanism was explained by a variety of assays. The micro-flotation results showed that the two metal ion complex collectors substantially increased the ilmenite flotation recovery to about 88% at pH = 8, while there was no major effect on titanaugite. And in the artificial mixed ore test, Pb-BHA showed good collecting ability and Al-BHA showed excellent selectivity. The collecting ability and selectivity of the two complex collectors were verified by adsorption amount detection, powder contact angle detection and Zeta potential detection, which were consistent with the results of micro-flotation. On the surface of ilmenite and titanaugite, the adsorption strength of Pb2+ was higher than that of Al3+, which proved that the collecting ability of Al-BHA was weak, and indirectly weakened the selective ability of Pb-BHA. XPS analysis showed that the adsorption of two complex collectors on ilmenite surface was similar, both of which were completed by O bond. However, on the surface of titanaugite, Pb-BHA was more adsorbed on the active site of Ca and Al-BHA was more adsorbed on the active site of Mg, which may be the reason why Pb-BHA and Al-BHA have their own characteristics in collection and selectivity. TOF-SIMS analysis showed that the addition of Pb2+ and Al3+ promoted BHA to be more evenly and stably adsorbed on the surface of ilmenite, which was conducive to the flotation separation of ilmenite and titanaugite. Through a variety of comparisons found that Pb-BHA, Al-BHA on ilmenite and titanaugite flotation separation of adsorption performance there were some differences, but the two types of complex collectors flotation of ilmenite flotation obtained flotation index was similar, can try to use each other alternative.