Abstract
The carbothermic reduction of vanadium titanomagnetite concentrate (VTC) with the assistance of Na2CO3 was conducted in an argon atmosphere between 1073 and 1473 K. X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy were used to investigate the phase transformations during the reaction. By investigating the reaction between VTC and Na2CO3, it was concluded that molten Na2CO3 broke the structure of titanomagnetite by combining with the acidic oxides (Fe2O3, TiO2, Al2O3, and SiO2) to form a Na-rich melt and release FeO and MgO. Therefore, Na2CO3 accelerated the reduction rate. In addition, adding Na2CO3 also benefited the agglomeration of iron particles and the slag—metal separation by decreasing the viscosity of the slag. Thus, Na2CO3 assisted carbothermic reduction is a promising method for treating VTC at low temperatures.
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Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2018YFC1900500), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 21908231, 51774260, 51804289, and 51904286), the Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. QYZDJ-SSW-JSC021), the CAS Interdisciplinary Innovation Team, and the Special Project for Transformation of Major Technological Achievements in Hebei Province, China (No. 19044012Z).
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Chen, L., Zhen, Y., Zhang, G. et al. Carbothermic reduction of vanadium titanomagnetite with the assistance of sodium carbonate. Int J Miner Metall Mater 29, 239–247 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-020-2160-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-020-2160-7