A Clean Process to Prepare High-Quality Acid-Soluble Titanium Slag from Titanium Middling Ore

Abstract

A direct reduction-magnetic separation-alkali leaching-dilute acid washing method was proposed to prepare high-quality acid-soluble titanium slag (HQASTS) from titanium middling ore. The relevant potential pH diagrams were built, and the analysis results showed that the pH values for alkali leaching and dilute acid washing should be higher than 13.50 and lower than 1.00, respectively. Increasing temperature was beneficial to alkali leaching but not to dilute acid washing. The effects of operating parameters on the TiO2 content and impurity oxides extraction ratios of titanium slag were investigated, and the optimal experimental conditions were obtained. The HQASTS was obtained with TiO2 and Fe2O3 content of 75.37 wt % and 0.96 wt %, respectively, under the above conditions. Furthermore, the leaching mechanism was studied by chemical analysis and X-ray diffraction (XRD) technology, and it was found that the alkali leaching-dilute acid washing process presented in this work could avoid the encapsulation of the unreacted anorthite by the calcium aluminum spinel generated in alkali leaching.