Multiple gaseous reduction of ilmenite: thermodynamic and experimental study

Abstract

In this paper, the thermodynamics of the reduction of ilmenite using multiple gases (H2/CO) was calculated. It is found that the metallization rate of 20.1 %–98.8 %, H2 consumption rate of 43.0 %–99.1 %, and carbon deposition amount of 5.7 × 10−7 − 0.49 mol can be obtained based on the conditions of hydrogen volume fraction of 10 %–90 % and temperature of 450–1200 °C. Experimental study was also carried out using synthetic ilmenite as initial materials and reduced in a static bed reactor at 1100 °C. The metallization rate reaches 97 % when the multiple gas (70 % H2/10 % CO/20 % Ar) flow rate is 120 ml·min−1. A thermogravimetric analyzer was used to measure the variation of sample weight caused by the deposition of solid carbon. The amount of carbon deposited during experiments reaches its maximum while the original hydrogen volume content is 20 %. The experimental results are well consistent with the thermodynamic analysis.