An innovative method for recovering valuable elements from vanadium-bearing titanomagnetite is proposed. This method involves two procedures: low-temperature roasting of vanadium-bearing titanomagnetite and water leaching of roasting slag. During the roasting process, the reduction of iron oxides to metallic iron, the sodium oxidation of vanadium oxides to water-soluble sodium vanadate, and the smelting separation of metallic iron and slag were accomplished simultaneously. Optimal roasting conditions for iron/slag separation were achieved with a mixture thickness of 42.5 mm, a roasting temperature of 1200°C, a residence time of 2 h, a molar ratio of C/O of 1.7, and a sodium carbonate addition of 70 wt%, as well as with the use of anthracite as a reductant. Under the optimal conditions, 93.67% iron from the raw ore was recovered in the form of iron nugget with 95.44% iron grade. After a water leaching process, 85.61% of the vanadium from the roasting slag was leached, confirming the sodium oxidation of most of the vanadium oxides to water-soluble sodium vanadate during the roasting process. The total recoveries of iron, vanadium, and titanium were 93.67%, 72.68%, and 99.72%, respectively.
A process of NaOH molten salt roasting-water leaching to treat titanium-vanadium slag obtained by direct reduction of titanomagnetite concentrates was investigated.X-ray diffraction(XRD), scanning electron microscopy(SEM) equipped with energy dispersive spectroscopy(EDS), and thermogravimetry-differential scanning calorimetry(TG-DSC) techniques were used to characterize the samples. The results show that anosovite(Mg_(x)Ti_(3-x)O_(5))and clinopyroxene [Ca(Ti,MgAl)(SiAl)_(2)O_(6)] are the major phases of titanium-vanadium slag. In the NaOH molten salt roasting process, titanium is converted to intermediate product Na_(2)TiO_(3) and vanadium is converted to water-soluble vanadate. The response surface methodology(RSM) was used to optimize the roasting process conditions. NaOH to slag mass ratio(N/S) and roasting temperature are the main influential factors. Under the optimal roasting conditions,i.e., roasting temperature of 550℃, N/S of 1.20, and roasting time of 80 min, the conversions of titanium and vanadium are 96.5 % and 93.0 %, respectively. In the water leaching process, Na_(2)TiO_(3) is converted to amorphous structure of H_(2)TiO_(3) since Na^(+)is exchanged with H^(+). Up to 93.0 % vanadium is leached out under the optimal leaching conditions. Titanium and vanadium in the titanium-vanadium slag can be separated and then recovered.
A method was proposed for removing zirconium (Zr) from hydrous titanium dioxide (HTD) by the NaF solution. The effects of main parameters, i.e. pH values, NaF dosage, temperature and retention time, on the removal of zirconium were studied. The optimal conditions were found as the following: pH value, <5.5; molar ratio of NaF to TiO2, 0.6; retention time, 80 min; and temperature, 80°C. The removal rate of Zr under the optimized conditions was above 87.7%. The adsorption energy of the preferential absorption of hydrofluoric acid for Zr(OH)2SO4(OH2) on the (001) crystal surface of HTD was determined by theoretical calculation. The possible mechanism of the removal process was also discussed.
