The influence of initial concentration of sulfuric acid on the degree of leaching of the main elements of ilmenite raw materials

Abstract

There are a variety of incidents in the chemical industry, which occurred in bursts of heat at different stages of technological process and whose main cause was the reactive compounds. Consequences of unfortunate events were large loss of property and in some cases deaths. These events show how important are the conditions under which the process takes place and how important is knowledge about them. On the other hand, very important is the level of leaching of the main elements of the titanium raw materials, which influences the efficiency of the process. One of the important parameters affecting the safety and the degree of leaching of elements is the concentration of the sulfuric acid. In this research article, we propose parameter for determination of risk of thermal explosion in the reaction of sulfuric acid with titanium raw materials and results of investigation of sulfuric acid influence on the degree of leaching of the main elements. The investigations were realized for the Norwegian and Australian ilmenites analyzing the degree of leaching of elements such as TiO2, Fe2O3, MgO and MnO.