Abstract
In order to meet the demand for high purity tantalum and niobium products and to adapt to the complexity of tantalum niobium ore and waste in smelting, it was necessary to prepare high pure tantalum (niobium) oxide by traditional technology. In this paper, the process features, principles and functions of the decomposition, extraction, neutralization, washing and calcination in the traditional technology were described in detail, and the key factors which affect the separation of impurities in each process and the influences of various factors on the process and product quality were analyzed. Extraction was the key process to remove metal impurities in products. The main factors affecting the extraction separation are acidity, grade efficiency, temperature, extractant, concentration of tantalum/niobium, mass ratio of tantalum to niobium and volume ratio. In the process of precipitation and calcination the reagent purity, the equipment material, and the environmental cleanliness must be concerned to avoid the inclusion of impurity elements. The research and progress of impurity removal technology in tantalum (niobium) oxide production process were reviewed. The innovation of the traditional technology can meet special low requirement of one or several elements in the product, such as fluorine, tungsten, antimony, etc. For the future the basic research on the existence state and transformation behavior of tantalum and niobium and other elements in each process of traditional technology should be strengthened.
Highlights
In recent years, with the reduction of tantalum/niobium mineral resources, the grade of tantalum / niobium for smelting is decreased, the specie of impurities is increased and the content is rising, the proportion of the poor ore and recycled waste material increases, which makes the smelting process control more difficult and the purity of the product is difficult to improve
The purity of ultra high purity tantalum oxide produced by Jiujiang nonferrous metal smelting Co., Ltd. is 99.995%
Extractant In the HF-H2SO4- secondary octanol system, the extraction capacity of secondary octanol is decreased for reuse, and this is not obvious in high acid extraction, but it is fatal for extracting tantalum in the low acid, which shows that the tantalum in the niobium solution is not completely extracted
Summary
With the reduction of tantalum/niobium mineral resources, the grade of tantalum / niobium for smelting is decreased, the specie of impurities is increased and the content is rising, the proportion of the poor ore and recycled waste material increases, which makes the smelting process control more difficult and the purity of the product is difficult to improve. The application of tantalum/niobium in the field of high technology, such as the electronics industry and superconductivity, has been expanded, and the higher requirements for the purity of tantalum (niobium) oxide which is the intermediate product of preparing tantalum (niobium), are putted forward. Huijuan Yan and Desheng Tang: Technical Features and Research Progress of Separating Impurities in Producing Tantalum (Niobium) Oxide by Traditional Technology
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