STUDIES ON THE EFFECT OF MECHANICALLY ACTIVATING ILMENITE CONCENTRATE USING AN ATTRITOR ON ITS SUBSEQUENT IRON REMOVAL POTENTIAL AND KINETICS OF DISSOLUTION IN HYDROCHLORIC ACID

The effect of mechanical activation using an attrition mill on the particle size of an ilmenite concentrate and its effect on the ability of the concentrate forIron separation during hydrochluric acid leaching and the kinetics of the dissolution process have been investigated. It Was observed that mechanical activation in an attritor Significantty enhances the disso lution of iron in hydrochloric acid while have a slight effect on dissolution of titanium . With the mechanically activated ilmenite using an attrition mill. leaching conversion at 90C reached to 80%. The kinetic data of leaching process of the mechanically activated ilmenite was found to follow shrinking cure model. Mechanically activating ilmenite using the attrition mill was found to cause the activation energy of leaching to be decrease from 43.69 kJ/mol.fo und for samples leached without mechanical activation, to 18.23 kJ/mol .