Purification of feldspar from colored impurities using organic acids

In this study oxalic, citric, and glycolic acids were used in order to reduce Fe and Ti (colored impurities) from the slimes (-75 μm) feldspar samples using organic acids. The results showed that removal ratios of the colored impurities from the feldspar samples were 67.9% for Fe and 43.75% for Ti using oxalic acid and the agitated leaching (AL) method. The influence of main parameters (temperature, pulp density, leaching time, and acid concentration) were examined by using full the factorial design (24) ANOVA-Yates test technique. Next, the removal ratios of Fe% and Ti% in the tests were determined to be 80.44% and 45.39%, respectively. Additionally, the main parameters which were obtained from the best results of AL were optimized for the -500+75 μm feldspar sample. Finally, the microwave-assisted pressure leaching (MAPL) method was apply to determine the effect of pressure on leaching. The obtained results indicated that the optimum removal ratios obtained were 95.74% for Fe and 70.88% for Ti by using the MAPL tests with oxalic acid. Furthermore, the measured whiteness (L) values were observed to be over 90%. This is a suitable purification ratio for the ceramic and glass industry.

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Opracowanie ze środków MNiSW w ramach umowy 812/P-DUN/2016 na działalność upowszechniającą naukę (zadania 2017).