A Comparative Study on the Chloride Effectiveness of Synthetic Rutile and Natural Rutile Manufactured from Ilmenite
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www.nature.com/scientificreports OPEN A comparative study on the chloride efectiveness of synthetic rutile and natural rutile manufactured from ilmenite ore Eun Jin Jung1*, Jinyoung Kim1 & Ye Rin Lee2 Studies on continuous and selective chlorination by using ilmenite have been actively conducted because the efcient removal of FeO from ilmenite(FeTiO3) ore using selective chlorination not only improves the reaction purity of TiCl4 but it also leads to price competitiveness compared to TiCl4 synthesized from natural rutile. The chlorination of synthetic rutile with FeO removed was compared with that of natural rutile to examine the reaction efciency. The selective chlorination efciency depends on the input amounts of coke and Cl2, as shown by thermodynamic calculation, when FeO is selectively removed. It was found that manufacturing of TiCl4 was easier by using the synthetic rutile, because it had greater porosity than natural rutile. Relatively greater pore volumes were found in the synthetic rutile than in natural rutile. It was confrmed that the reaction efciency of chlorination for TiCl4 production was directly related to the diference in the porosity distribution between the titanium ores, as verifed by a kinetic comparison of synthetic and natural rutiles. Ilmenite(FeTiO3) ore is a raw material for producing TiCl4 through the chlorination method and the sulfuric acid reaction method. TiCl 4 is used as a raw material for producing metallic titanium through the Kroll process 1–5 or for producing TiO2 used as a catalyst or pigment . Until now, high-grade rutile ore has been used for manu- facturing TiCl4. Te advantages of having low prices and extensive reserves have led to active research using the ilmenite ore. To produce TiCl 4 using ilmenite ore, it is important to secure high-quality TiO 2 by removing FeO 6–8 from the ore . Hydrometallurgical methods to produce TiCl4 include the Ishihara method that uses sulfuric acid, 9 10 the Benilite and Murso methods that uses hydrochloric acid , and the Becher method that uses NH 4Cl + HCl . Sneha Samal11,12 evaluated that the titania slag is dissolved by using ethylene glycol or resorcinol. Te upgraded feed stock was obtained by control of acid concentration, pulp density, grain size and time. Alternatively, Pali- 13 yaguru et al. recently manufactured TiO 2 nanoparticles with gravity separation properties using H 3PO4 acid in 14 ilmenite ore. Wu et al. manufactured TiO2 with hydrolysis of TiCl4 using AlCl3. Tis makes use of rutile’s high chromium absorption capacity, which also helps to solve water pollution. Ma et al.15 evaluated the efciency of application of titanium industries through structural evaluation using viscous properties of high titanium slag. In this way, research on the recovery of titanium through wet reactions is active in trying a diferent reaction method than in the past. In addition, the dry smelting method in titanium research has the advantage of having fewer by-products compared to wet smelting methods. Terefore, the active progress of researchers on reaction testing is meaningful in order to increase the industrial application efciency of titanium. As a dry method, upgrade slag (UGS) can be obtained by separating slag containing TiO2 from pig iron 16 through reduction of FeO x in an electric furnace ; however, reducing the FeO from the ilmenite ore at 1550–1600 °C causes the gradually concentrated TiO 2 to lose fuidity due to its high melting point, so there is a limit to obtaining high purity TiO2. Producing TiCl4 using ilmenite ore is more economical than using natural rutile because the price of ilmenite 17 is approximately four times lower . However, to produce TiCl 4 from ilmenite ore using selective chlorination, technical factors must also be examined. Tese include the roasting process for the phase control of FeOx pre- sent in the ore, the derivation of high-purity TiO 2 production conditions for the selective chlorination of FeO. Te synthetic rutile fabricated through the selective chlorination of FeO may have large benefts in terms of the reaction efciency because its porosity is higher than that of natural rutile. 1Research Institute of Industrial Science and Technology (RIST), 67 Cheongam-ro, Nam-gu, Pohang 37673, Republic of Korea. 2Korea Metal Material Research Association, 135, Jungdae-ro, Songpa-gu, Seoul 05717, Republic of Korea. *email: [email protected] Scientifc Reports | (2021) 11:4045 | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-83485-6 1 Vol.:(0123456789) www.nature.com/scientificreports/ Content (wt%) TiO2 FeOx SiO2 Al2O3 Cr2O3 MgO MnO CaO Ilmenite 53.59 36.9 3.41 1.97 1.00 0.90 1.23 0.20 *Synthetic rutile 86.7 2.08 4.69 2.22 1.07 0.86 0.05 0.27 Natural rutile 92.5 1.65 2.47 1.01 0.13 0.11 0.06 0.05 Table 1. Chemical compositions of ilmenite, synthetic rutile, and natural rutile (wt%). *Synthetic rutile: obtained by selective chlorination from ilmenite (afer 40 min at 1173 K). Synthetic rutile refers to TiO 2 that remains in the ilmenite afer FeO is removed. Synthetic rutile is more porous than natural rutile, owing to the removal of FeO from the matrix. To identify an appropriate chlorina- tion process, it is essential to compare reactivity through a quantitative evaluation of the porosity and reactive efciency by rutile species. Furthermore, the observation of morphology is essential to evaluate the reaction efciency of chlorine reactions in synthetic/natural rutile. As part of this review, Li et al.18 conducted structural considerations on the reaction with XRD and FT-IR in the process of recovering vanadium and chromium through microwave absorption characteristics and thermal behavior evaluation of vanadium slag. Chen et al.19 recovered Cr, V using sodium carbonate roasting for high-purity shuttle production. We consider the analysis of phase changes through XRD, SEM, and Raman analyses. Kang et al.20 also considered the behavior of rutile and sodium carbonate reactions in the microwave heating reaction through structural evaluation. Tus, mor- phology evaluation by structural analysis are essential factors in assessing the chemical reaction. In this study, the FeO with selective chlorination by using coke and Cl 2 gas of ilmenite ore was eliminated, and TiO 2 of high purity produced. Te reaction characteristics based on changes in porosity were investigated by comparing the efciency of the chloride reaction with natural rutile of high purity. Material and methods Te ilmenite ore (Shijiazhuang Lanhu Welding Consumables Co., Ltd., China) and coke (Fushun Fangda High Tech Material Co., Ltd., China, 0.03wt% FeO x-0.09wt% SiO2-0.04wt% Al2O3-99.36wt% C-0.48wt% S) were pre- pared for the synthetic rutile manufacturing. Te average diameter of ilmenite ore and coke was 214 and 803 μm, respectively. And the synthetic rutile was produced through the reaction with chloride gas. To exclude reaction and infuence of moisture during chlorina- tion process, ilmenite and coke were frst dried in a furnace at 150 °C for 24 h. A fuidized bed reactor(FBR) for chloride process was used. Te inner dimeter of the FBR is 2.54 cm, and the tube is 70 cm high. We used 46.73 g of ilmenite ore, which met our length to diameter requirement (L/D = 3). Te coke was injected by relying on the stoichiometry ratio of FeO contained in the ilmenite ore. Tus, FeO in ilmenite and coke were maintained at a ratio of 1:1. Te 3.70 g of coke was added to meet the 1:1 M ratio for FeO x in ilmenite and coke to suit selective chlorination. Te coke used in the experiment was assumed to be all carbon because of high purity coke (contains more than 99% carbon composition). Te reaction temperature was set to 1173 K and it was increased at a rate of approximately 15 K/min; nitrogen was continuously injected at a rate of 300 ml/min to maintain fuidization of the ore. When the set temperature was reached, the inputted nitrogen gas was stopped. Chlorine gas was injected at a fow rate of 851 ml/min for the selective chlorination process. Te minimum fuidization velocity was calculated using the Wen&Yu equation21, and the minimum fuidization velocity for each ilmenite and coke was calculated as the ratio of the raw material. Experimentally confrmed that the minimum fuidization velocity should be approximately twice through the cold test, and if it is higher than twice, the ilmenite and coke will be separated, and if it is lower than twice, the injection material will not be mixed. Terefore, the fow velocity could be twice the minimum fuidi- zation velocity. To compare the chlorination behavior under the same FeO content included in natural rutile, the selective chlorination time was controlled to 40 min for a preliminary test. Te synthetic rutile, which was produced through the chlorination of ilmenite ore, and natural rutile ore (Vol’nogorsk Mining, Ukraine) were mixed with coke for 30 min to observe the reaction surface afer chlorination process. Te particle sizes of the two rutile types ranged from 180 to 210 µm. Afer the stoichiometric mixture (rutile:coke = 1:2 mol) was lef for 30 min for reaction, the supply of Cl 2 at 1173 K was stopped and Ar gas was inputted into the reaction tube to remove the remaining Cl2 gas. Te TiCl4 was acquired by a temperature controlled receiver with cooling water. Te discharged unreacted Cl 2 gas was sent into NaOH aqueous solution to be neutralized and then discharged to the atmosphere. Te selective chlorination of FeO from FeTiO3 ore is performed according to the following process in Eq. (1). Te following reaction confrmed that selective removal was completed afer 40 min of chlorination.