Studying the Effectiveness of Synthetic Rutile Made from Inferior Quality Ilmenite Ore: Fid-Bau Portal

Studying the Effectiveness of Synthetic Rutile Made from Inferior Quality Ilmenite Ore

Singh, Purushottam Kumar / Mishra, Santosh Kumar / Shukla, Kartikeya / Kumar, Pankaj

Ilmenite (FeO.TiO₂) is the most abundant mineral available worldwide for the extraction of Titanium and its oxide. Titanium dioxide (TiO₂) is the commonly produced intermediate chemical from Ilmenite ore. It is mostly used in the manufacture of paints, pigment, ceramics and welding rod coating which ultimately can be used in automobiles. The ore contained major amount of TiO₂ and iron oxide. Dealing with subpar ilmenite ore poses significant challenges due to its reduced titanium dioxide content and elevated iron oxide composition. These challenges underscore the need for an innovative and efficient synthetic rutile production process. The thermal analysis pattern of Ilmenite mixed with 5% charcoal indicates loss in weight. The DTA plot does not reveal any drift and has a decreasing trend whereas the addition of 5% sodium carbonate along with 5% charcoal shows two drifts in the DTA plot. The reduction experiment is done at 1050 °C temperature for 90 min duration in a raising hearth furnace where Ilmenite pallets mixed with additive are dipped in a coal bed. The TiO₂ recovery has been 86.39% in 30-min duration. The investigation demonstrates that TiO₂ is formed with these mixtures at 1050 °C, whereas iron has been mostly converted to metallic iron. It is also observed that compared to addition of only 5% charcoal, the sodium carbonate (5%) yielded a higher amount of TiO₂ (86.39%) in 90-min duration. This is attributed to an improved reduction environment during the reduction of mixed mass. The Ilmenite and different reduced products and leach residue have been characterized by X-Ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and studied to examine the path of the reaction.