Extraction of Ultrafine Titania from Black Sands Broaden on the Mediterranean Sea Coast in Egypt by Molten Alkalies

The work in this article was devoted to investigate the different reaction variables affecting the extraction of titania from ilmenite fraction separated from black sands broaden along the beach of Mediterranean Sea coast, North Egypt, by means of interaction with fused KOH as well as NaOH. The complete extraction of titania was found to be achieved in case of heating one mole of TiO2 (in ilmenite) with 3 moles of fused KOH at 350oC for 1 h, whereas this achievement could be verified, only, when one mole of titania, (in ilmenite) reacted with 4 moles of fused NaOH at 350oC for 1h. The reaction products were identified in order to suggest the processes which lead to preparation of pure titania and exploitation of produced iron oxide as well as excess reagent in producing commercially useful inorganic compounds. The products in case of reaction with fused KOH namely are, K2TiO3, KFeO2, K3FeO4, K3Ti8O17, Fe3O4, FeTiO3, KAl6O95, TiO2, SiO2 and KAlO2, whereas in case of using fused NaOH they are namely, Na2TiO3, NaTiO2, Fe3O4, NaFe2O3, Na5AlO4, NaFeO2, Na4Ti3O8, FeTiO3. The reaction processes which governed the formation of these compounds were discussed thoroughly where the chemical equations which clarified these processes were presented. Depending on the results of investigation, a method was proposed for preparation of pure titanium dioxide as well as iron oxide in addition to the desire salt produced from neutralization of excess alkali. The proposed method is promising and economic since the price of chemicals and acids used in preparation of titania comprise not more than 60% of price of titania and resulted byproduct salt (eg. Na2SO4)