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US 7,008,602 B2Granted
Beneficiation of titaniferous ore with sulfuric acid
AssigneeMillennium Inorganic Chemicals, Inc.
InventorsEarl Smith, Michael Robinson, Kirit Talati
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Abstract
Processes for the efficient and economical beneficiation of titaniferous ore are provided. A unique process for beneficiating ore comprising pretreatment of the ore by oxidation and reduction, followed by acid leaching with sulfuric acid has been developed. The acid used in this process may be recycled, which will thereby increase the efficiency of the process. Preferably the ore treated according to the present invention is ilmenite ore.
Claims16
A process comprising:
- (a) leaching a pretreated titaniferous ore with sulfuric acid to form a leached ore and a liquid phase, wherein the titaniferous ore is comprised of iron and substantially all of the iron is ferrous iron, the sulfuric acid is in a concentration of from about 5 wt. % to about 50 wt. %, and the liquid phase comprises dissolved iron salts and fine particles comprising titanium hydrolysate and iron sulfate;
- (b) separating the leached ore from the liquid phase;
- (c) washing the leached ore to form a beneficiated ore;
- and
- (d) separating the fine particles from the liquid phase to form a mixture of fine TiO2 particles and iron sulfate, re-slurrying the mixture to form dissolved iron sulfate, and separating the dissolved iron sulfate from the fine TiO2 particles to form a TiO2 product.
2 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.