Reductive Extraction Kinetics of Titania and Iron from an Ilmenite by Hydrogen

摘要

Since the available reserves of natural rutile in the world are being depleted with the progress of the titanium industry, the natural ilmenite is gradually becoming the main source for the production of metallic titanium and titanium containing compounds. This has led to efforts to convert still abundant ilmenite to as synthetic rutile. The conversion of ilmenite to synthetic rutile involves extraction of the titania and iron contained in ilmenite. Among the routes for the conversion of ilmenite to synthetic rutile, the reduction with hydrogen has attracted increasing attention in the solid-state reduction of ilmenite ores, which can be more effective to reduce ilmenite with the merits of lower temperature and pollution than the carbothermic reduction technique. The Bama ilmenite ore has abundant reserves in Bama, Guangxi Province of China. This work focuses on the reductive extraction kinetics of titania and iron from ilmenite with hydrogen. The effects of temperature and hydrogen content on the ilmenite reduction rate are observed and discussed.