Abstract
The traditional aeration leaching process for the upgrading of reduced ilmenite is extremely sluggish and needs significant improvements in its efficiency. An improved aeration leaching process which comprises reduction, aeration with a catalyst, wet magnetic separation, and further leaching, was used for the preparation of synthetic rutile in the present study. The effects of NH4Cl concentration, HCl addition, 9, 10-anthraquinone-2, 6-disuifonic acid, disodium salt (catalyst AQ-2, 6) addition, temperature, stirring speed, liquid/solid mass ratio, and leaching time on the metallic iron removal rate from the reduced ilmenite were studied. The bench-scale experiment results reveals that the aeration leaching efficiency can be significantly improved by adding 2.0% HCl or 0.2% AQ-2, 6 in NH4Cl solution, and the fine magnetite (Fe3O4) particles can be steadily produced with the addition of AQ-2, 6. The pilot-scale experiment results show that the synthetic rutile can be upgraded to ∼86% of TiO2 with 0.2% AQ-2, 6 addition within 8 h of aeration leaching, and the recovery of TiO2 can be improved by 3% when replace the traditional hydrocyclones with the swet magnetic separation. The improved process can not only shorten the leaching time but also possible to improve the quality of the products by accurate classification.
Published Version
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