Carbothermic Reduction of Vanadium-Titanium Magnetite in Molten NaOH

Abstract

The carbothermic reduction experiments were carried out for vanadium-titanium magnetite in alkaline molten in argon atmosphere at high temperatures. The effects of reduction temperature, carbon content and addition agent on the formation of pig iron containing vanadium were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The XRD patterns of reduced slags results showed that Fe phase disappeared and the main phase of the reduced sample were Na₁₆Ti₁₀O₂₈, CaTiO₃, and Na_1.66AlSiO_4.33 when the reduction temperature was more than 1473 K when cooled in the air. The SEM pictures show that most of V exists in the crystalline phase, such as Na₁₆Ti₁₀O₂₈, NaAlSiO₄ and CaTiO₃, when quenched in air slowly; and the vanadium is dispersed in the slag phase when cooled by water quickly. Furthermore, the effects of additive NaOH on the reduction were also studied, results show that NaOH could enhance the separation of iron and slag, promote the transformation of vanadium and titanium and inhibit the vanadium enrichment in metal phase.