The Potential of Grinding Media Shape to Enhance the Selective Flotation Separation of Ilmenite

Ilmenite, the most widely distributed titanium ore resource globally, often coexists with titanaugite, one of its primary gangue minerals, which shares similar surface properties. This similarity significantly hampers the selective flotation separation efficiency of ilmenite. This study investigated the influence of grinding media shape—specifically steel balls, steel rods, and steel cylpebs—on the grinding characteristics of ilmenite and titanaugite through single-mineral micro-flotation experiments and related characterizations, and explored the potential of media shape to enhance the selective flotation separation of ilmenite. Experimental results demonstrate that in a weakly alkaline sodium oleate (NaOL) system at pH ≈ 8, the floatability of ilmenite milled with cylpebs is approximately 1.7% higher than that with balls and slightly lower than that with rods. In contrast, the floatability of titanaugite milled with cylpebs is similar to that with balls but almost 4% lower than that with rods. Compared to balls and rods, the difference in floatability between ilmenite and titanaugite increases from 29.96% and 29.04% to 32.71% with cylpeb milling. The primary reason is that cylpebs increase the exposure of the (104) face of ilmenite by approximately 2%, enhancing its interaction with NaOL, while minimizing the (−221) faces in titanaugite, thereby reducing its adverse impact on ilmenite flotation. Therefore, the use of cylpebs may facilitate the selective flotation separation of ilmenite.