I. V. Tananaev Institute of Chemistry and Technology of Rare Elements and Mineral Raw Materials of Russian Academy of Sciences Kola Scientific Center (ICTREMRM KSC RAS), Apatity, Russia

L. A. Mayorov, Junior Researcher, е-mail: mayor_la@chemy.kolasc.net.ru
I. G. Kolesnikova, Researcher
Yu. V. Kuzmich, Deputy Head of Laboratory of Powders Metallurgy, Researcher

High-titanium titanomagnetite concentrate of a Khibiny deposit of Kola Peninsula is a prospective source for obtaining the pigment titanium dioxide and vanadium cast iron. One of the basic problems in the processing technology of this kind of raw materials are the problems of the economically effective dividing of finished products and decreasing of power inputs in the product cost structure. Thus, the aim of the investigation was a single stage of a possibility research of metal and slag phases` selective separation in the process of carbothermic reduction of titanomagnetite concentrate during one stage. A thermodynamic analysis of the Fe₃O₄ – FeTiO₃ – V₂O₅ – MnO – C – Na₂CO₃ system was made. It was established that an addition of the sodium carbonate in an amount of not more than 9% from the titanomagnetite mass will favor the formation of manganese and sodium titanates. In theory, this enabled practically all the manganese and titanium to transfer into slag, with minimizing their amount in a metal phase. Carbothermic reduction of the Khibiny titanomagnetite concentrate with soda as an additive, enabled to divide the metal and slag phases selectively in two separate products. The basic feasibility parameters of this process were determined. The experiments showed that due to the introduction of sodium carbonate to the charge, the titanium and manganese were mainly situated in the slag product as a manganese titanate and sodium titanate. There were produced a vanadium cast iron (~0.3% V), which contains 0.3% of Ti, and titanium slag, which contains more than 60% of TiO₂. These elements correspond to raw materials, which are used in blast furnace remelting and in the pigment titanium dioxide production.

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