Treatment of mineral particles

Abstract

A method of heat treating kaolin particles which includes the steps of establishing in a furnace a heating zone suitable to calcine the particles and passing the particles rapidly through the heating zone whereby the particles are flash calcined in the heating zone, wherein the furnace is of the kind in which a toroidal fluid flow heating zone is established and the particles are heated in the said heating zone to a temperature of at least 800° C. but not greater than 1100° C. by application to the particles of a temperature increase rate greater than 103 Celsius degrees per second to give a rapid blistering of the particles caused by rapid dehydroxylation of the kaolin and wherein the particles have a residence time of less than 1 second in the said toroidal fluid flow heating zones.

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