Thermodynamic Analysis and Reduction of Anosovite with Methane at Low Temperature

Abstract

The utilization of titanium resource in titanium-containing blast furnace slag (TiO2 about 23 wt%) is an unsolved problem, which is caused by its complex mineralogical composition. The titanium oxide (TiO2) and other metal oxides contained in titanium-bearing blast furnace slag can be precipitated out in the form of anosovite (M3O5), which is the main titanium-containing phase in the slag, by adjusting the slag composition and cooling condition. In this study, thermodynamic calculation was performed to analyze the reduction of anosovite with methane. It was found that all anosovite could be reduced to titanium oxycarbide (TiCxOy) with methane at a low temperature, while the increase of temperature was beneficial to the formation of TiCxOy. The experimental results were basically consistent with the thermodynamic results. The results indicated that the low-temperature reduction of titanium-containing blast furnace slag by methane was feasible, which provided a possible way to use titanium-bearing blast furnace slag.