Recovery of niobium from wastes generated in titanium production by cation exchange sorbents

Abstract

This article presents the technology of niobium recovery by processing of chloride residues generated during the chlorination of titanium slags. For waste processing, a two-stage leaching technology is proposed. Water is used at the first stage of leaching and hydrochloric acid 4.0 M is used at the second stage. For the purpose of sorption of niobium from the solution composition obtained during leaching, cation-exchange sorbents Purolite-C104 and KU-2-8 H were used. By the usage of Purolite-C104 ion exchange resin the sorption efficiency of niobium from a solution with a concentration of 2 g/l was about 71.0 % (0.071 g/g) in 3.5 hours, while for KU-2-8 H ion exchange resin, sorption efficiency was about 89.0 % (0.089 g/g).