Synthesis of Fe2O3 powders from local ironstone with varied distillation routes in producing Fe2TiO5 powders

Abstract

Abstract Synthesis and characterization of Fe2TiO5 powders with three different Fe2O3 powders were successfully performed. The Fe2TiO5 powder was produced by solid-state mixing and calcination of natural ironstone derived Fe2O3 and commercial TiO2 powders. Production of Fe2O3 powder was done by the dissolution, coprecipitation, and washing (distillation) processes. In this study, the variations of the washing process were carried out by varying the time (hour) and cycles (times) to acquire the highest purity of Fe2O3 in producing Fe2TiO5. The characterization was performed using XRF, XRD, and SEM. XRF analysis data shows that the washing process affects the amount of Fe2O3 content of the three powders. XRD analysis showed the success of the formation of a single-phase from Fe2O3 powders. Meanwhile, the SEM analysis showed that the morphology and size distribution of the Fe2O3 powders changed with different washing processes. Visually, the Fe2O3 powders differed in color. The XRD patterns of the calcined mixtures showed the formation of a single phase only on the sample where the Fe2O3 powder was the darkest in color and exhibited the highest content of Fe according to XRF data. The study concluded that the washing process in the synthesis of Fe2O3 affected the purity of Fe2TiO5 powder. Therefore, this study recommends the most reliable Fe2O3 is the black powder because it has the highest Fe content.