Isothermal reduction kinetics of Panzhihua ilmenite concentrate under 30vol% CO–70vol% N2 atmosphere

Abstract

The reduction of ilmenite concentrate in 30vol% CO–70vol% N2 atmosphere was characterized by thermogravimetric and differential thermogravimetric (TG–DTG) analysis methods at temperatures from 1073 to 1223 K. The isothermal reduction results show that the reduction process comprised two stages; the corresponding apparent activation energy was obtained by the iso-conversional and model-fitting methods. For the first stage, the effect of temperature on the conversion degree was not obvious, the phase boundary chemical reaction was the controlling step, with an apparent activation energy of 15.55–40.71 kJ·mol–1. For the second stage, when the temperatures was greater than 1123 K, the reaction rate and the conversion degree increased sharply with increasing temperature, and random nucleation and subsequent growth were the controlling steps, with an apparent activation energy ranging from 182.33 to 195.95 kJ·mol–1. For the whole reduction process, the average activation energy and pre-exponential factor were 98.94–118.33 kJ·mol–1 and 1.820–1.816 min–1, respectively.