Removal of magnesium and calcium from electric furnace titanium slag by H3PO4 oxidation roasting-leaching process

H3PO4 oxidation roasting followed by HCl acid leaching was proposed to remove magnesium and calcium from electric furnace titanium slag containing 3.12% MgO and 0.86% CaO. XRF, XRD and SEM techniques were used to characterize the composition, mineral phase component and microstructure of the titanium slag. The H3PO4 oxidation thermodynamic, mineral phase transformation, microstructure, element distribution in titanium slag during H3PO4 oxidation process and leaching process were investigated. The thermodynamic analysis indicated that H3PO4 could promote the decomposition of MgTi2O5 and CaSiO3. The results indicated that H3PO4 could effectively promote the transformation of titanium-bearing mineral to rutile and enrich the impurities in MxTi3-xO5 into phosphate which could be removed by acid leaching process. Under the studied conditions, the leaching rates of magnesium and calcium reached 94.68% and 87.19%, respectively. The acid leached slag containing 0.19% MgO and 0.13% CaO (mass fraction) was obtained.