Obtaining titanium concentrates from fly ash

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to highlight the possibility of using fly ash from coal combustion as a source of titanium concentrates. The research work carried out was aimed at determining the conditions for pretreatment of fly ash by alkaline thermal activation with sodium carbonate and their effect on the release of titanium compounds in the hydrometallurgical process. The process was carried out for mixtures of ash and sodium carbonate in a weight ratio of 1 to 1.1. The resulting mixtures were heated for 1 hour at temperatures of 973K, 1023K and 1083K. After cooling and grinding, the resulting reaction residue was washed with hydrochloric acid and nitric acid (V). The results of chemical analysis and scanning microscopic analysis, together with EDS and X-ray analysis, were used to determine the chemical and physical properties of the tested substrates and fly ash treatment products. An analysis of the possibility of separating titanium concentrates from fly ash generated during the combustion process in pulverized fuel boilers of selected domestic power plants was carried out. The dependence of titanium concentration in the obtained concentrate on the temperature of the activation process and on the type of acid in the hydrometallurgical treatment process was found. The content of titanium in the obtained concentrates ranged from 39.3% to 60.8%, which corresponds to the content of this element in currently exploited titanium ores.