Preparation of titanium mineral from vanadium titanomagnetite concentrates by hydrogen reduction and acid leaching
Zhengpei Yan, Ying Zhang, Ying Zhang, Shili Zheng, Yang Zhang, Yang Zhang, Pei Sun, Zi-wei SONG, Faiza Safdar, Tao Qi
Abstract
Titanium mineral was prepared from vanadium titanomagnetite concentrates by hydrogen reduction and acid leaching. The leaching behaviors of elements like Fe, V, Mn, Al, Mg, Ca, and Si were highly related to the reduction degree. The phase compositions of the reduced materials and the leached residues were analyzed by XRD to identify the effect of reduction degree on the leaching mechanisms. The results showed that the concentrates were reduced to iron metal and titanomagnetite at 800−1000 °C for 0.5 h, and the above elements of Fe and impurities were easily leached. Deeper reduction led to the formation of ilmenite and Mg−Al spinel, which hindered leaching. Mg-bearing anosovite appeared in the further reduced materials, and the leaching rates of impurities became much lower. An upgraded titanium mineral with a normalized TiO2 grade of 70.3% was achieved by H2 reduction at 850 °C for 0.5 h and acid leaching, which is a satisfactory Ti resource for the preparation of titanium oxide by sulfate process.