The Application of Plasma Processes during the Production of Pigments

The article describes the application of plasma in the production of industrial pigments. Plasmatrons, or cooled electrodes, have found practical use in chemical, petrochemical, metallurgical, and other industries. Plasma-chemical methods with the use of plasmatrons have found application in the yielding of high-quality pigments, e.g. titanium dioxide. The disadvantage of the application of plasmatrons is the dilution of the outgoing chlorine with inert gases, which reduces the service life of plasmatrons. The disadvantage can be eliminated by substituting high frequency induction plasma with arc plasma.

О выборе параметров высокочастотного индукционного плазмотрона и дисперсного потока испаряемых кварцевых частиц

Numerical simulation of the heating and evaporation processes of quartz particles in a technical induction plasma torch of argon plasma was performed in the framework of a two-phase collisionless monodisperse model. The particle supply conditions within a full and partial penetration through the frontal ring-type vortex into discharge zone were determined. The dependences of the evaporation degree and specific energy cost for evaporation on the main operation parameters of the particle processes, primarily the coupled power of plasma torch, as well as the particle size, feed rate and entry angle into the discharge zone were established. The recommendations on the choice of the optimal operation parameters of the plasma torch and the flow parameters of quartz particles were given. It was shown that the technical induction plasma torch with a coupled power of about 5 kW can provide a complete evaporation of the quartz particles with sizes up to 50 – 70 μm and mass flow rate of up to (8 – 10) ‧10-5 kg/s under a specific energy cost at 50 MJ/kg