High Purity Magnetite Microparticles Directly Derived from Mill Scale via Hydrogen-Reduction Method

Abstract

This study develops a fast and simple way to produce high purity magnetite (Fe3O4) microparticles from mill scale by using hydrogen reduction with the addition of vapour as a retarding agent. By optimising the reduction temperature and gas flow rate, the characterisations by X-ray diffractometry technique shown that the Fe3O4 fraction of over 93 wt.-% is shown at the reduction temperature of 550 – 650 oC with the flow rate of the 4.5-5.5 mol%H2 + Ar gas + H2O gas mixture from 100 – 200 ml/min. The highest Fe3O4 fraction of over 99 wt.-% can be achieved from the reduction with the mixed gas at 650 oC and the flow rate of 200 ml/min for 4 hour.