Effect of Additives on Semi-molten State Reduction for Titanium Slag Production from Ilmenite Concentrate

In this study, a novel process is proposed to produce titanium slag from Panzhihua ilmenite concentrate. The carbothermic reduction of ilmenite concentrate, followed by wet magnetic separation, was performed to generate metallic iron and a titanium-rich slag in the presence of sodium sulfate and sodium carbonate. This work investigated the influence of reaction time, sodium sulfate additive, and sodium carbonate additive on the metallization, the TiO2 grade in the non-magnetic fractions, and recovery of titanium dioxide. The results show that sodium carbonate increases the metallization, while sodium sulfate decreases the metallization of the reduced sample. In the presence of sodium carbonate, the highest metallization and recovery of titanium dioxide can reach up to 90.57% and 0.83, respectively. In addition, the mechanism of additives influence on the reduction process is also discussed.