Production of synthetic rutile by continuous leaching
AssigneeAustpac Resources N.L.
InventorJohn Winter
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Abstract
A reactor 20 has a plurality of tubular downcomers 32, 34, 36, 38, 40 and risers 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, joined by sections 86, 88 in a continuous serpentine path the tubes dimensioned to provide substantially plug flow conditions for solid and liquid reagents fed into a first downcomer 24 with the products extracted from final riser 52. The reactor 20 is designed for a desired residence time by the number, height and diameter of the tubes. The downcomers 24, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40 may include a bend to improve residence time and to thereby reduce the number of tubes required for a desired overall residence time. The reactor 20 can be used in a leaching operation for producing synthetic rutile, where a pre-treated feedstock including ilmenite, leueoxene or titania slag is leached with hot HCl.
Claims17
A method for the production of synthetic rutile from feedstock including ilmenite, leucoxene or titania slag including the steps of:
- roasting the feedstock to enhance its leachability;
- leaching said roasted feedstock in hot acid in a continuous manner in a substantially vertical co-current tubular reactor under substantially plug flow conditions.
A method for the production of synthetic rutile from feedstock including ilmenite, leucoxene or titania slag including the steps of:
- roasting the feedstock to enhance its leachability;
- cooling the roasted feedstock under anaerobic conditions;
- magnetically separating the cooled feedstock from any non or very weakly magnetic gangue mineral;
- leaching said separated feedstock in hot acid in a continuous manner in a co-current substantially vertical tubular reactor under substantially plug flow conditions.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.