Abstract: The Fe，Ca，and Mg ions in the backwater of an ilmenite concentrator in Panzhihua reacted with the collector to produce precipitation，and the collector was consumed，resulting in poor flotation re⁃ sults. In order to solve the problem，a series of experiments about influence of water prepared by collector on flotation effect were carried out based on the analysis of precipitation and water hardness. The results showed that the hardness of the backwater was higher than that of the clear water，and the Fe，Ca，and Mg ions in the backwater would be consumed by the collector with the increasing of concentration of the collec⁃ tor solution.The effect of collector prepared by backwater on the flotation effect of ilmenite could be im⁃ proved by increasing the concentration of the collector preparation，pretreating the backwater with EDTA and alkalizing the backwater.

Key words: ilmenite, backwater, collector, flotation