Silica removal from waste of ilmenite concentrate pyrometallurgical processing

The article presents the study results for alkaline leaching of fine ilmenite concentrate dusts from electric smelting. The physical and chemical properties of the dusts were studied using chemical and instrumental analysis methods. The dust composition was determined, X-ray phase analysis showed that the dust sample substance is in the X-ray amorphous state, iron is present in the trivalent state, and silicon is bound to magnesium. The dust sample study using a scanning electron microscope showed that part of the titanium is bound in a hard-to-disclose anasovite encapsulated in amorphous silicon oxide. The leaching study of electric smelting dust with sodium hydroxide solutions included the study of the effect of sodium hydroxide concentration, process duration, temperature, S: L ratio. The optimal conditions for dust leaching from electric smelting of ilmenite concentrate have been established: temperature 80-90 °C, duration 90-120 min, ratio S: L = 1: 5, the concentration of sodium hydroxide solution 110-115 g/dm3. The silicon extraction degree into the solution under these conditions was 77.7%. The behavior of accompanying components of chromium, zinc, iron, and manganese during dust leaching was also studied. X-ray phase analysis of the cake after leaching shows almost complete amorphization of the leached product, the main phase is a solid solution of Fe2O3·TiO2.

Pyro-Metallurgical Processing of Ilmenite Concentrate with Production of Iron and Titanium Oxides

The main problem of processing of ores with a high content of titanium oxides is refractory slag based on TiO2, which makes it difficult to melt. The methods of processing of titanomagnetite and ilmenite ores were analyzed. It is shown that the existing scheme of processing does not meet the requirements of complex use of materials. The paper presents the results of laboratory studies on reduction of ilmenite concentrate and subsequent pyrometallurgical separation of reduction products without addition of flux or slag-forming materials. Solid-phase reduction of iron enabled to extract iron selectively from the ilmenite crystal lattice, not diluting the oxide phase with the reducing agent ash. Using the advantages of solid-phase reduction, the possibility of obtaining pure iron and slag with a high content of titanium oxides was shown.