Microstructural Study of Reduced Malaysian Ilmenite by Carbothermal Reduction and Nitridation in Nitrogen Atmosphere

Abstract

The reduction of Malaysia Ilmenite (FeTiO3) with coal by carbothermal reduction under N2 atmosphere was studied. Characterization of raw materials was done by XRD, XRF, Optical Microscopy (OM) and SEM analysis. Isothermal experiments were carried out using the pellets in a horizontal tube reactor with continuously flowing gas. From the experiments, 0-10 wt. % of FeCl3 was added in the ilmenite-coal mixtures before reduction. The mixture was reduced at 1100°C for 60, 120 and 180 minutes. The addition of FeCl3 acted as a catalyst and increased the rate of reduction. The microstructures of the reduced sample were porous with the addition of FeCl3. Furthermore, defects were observed due to increase release of Cl2 and CO during reduction. FeCl3 acted as catalyst in the gasification of coal by the Boudouard reaction. SEM analysis indicates that the microstructure of the particles was coarsened due to the addition of catalyst. Besides that, there was less agglomeration of metallic iron particles at higher addition of FeCl3. The effect of FeCl3 on the morphology iron was the nucleation of microscopic iron rich zones in the reduced sample. Keywords: Carbothermal Reduction, Iron Chloride, Malaysian Ilmenite, Nitridation, Titanium Oxycarbonitride.