Effect of paste humidity on kinetics of carbothermal reduction of extruded barite and coke mixture

The effect of the moisture content of barite-coke paste on the kinetics of carbothermal reduction was investigated to understand the role of extrusion technique on this type of solid-gas reaction. The pastes were formulated using the typical natural barite and coke powders normally used in the industrial scale. 0.65 wt.% carboxyl methyl cellulose and different amounts of distilled water, ranging 24.3–34.4% were added to the mixed powders. The obtained pastes were then shaped by a laboratory extruder. The extrusion process was assessed by determining the total porosity of dry samples. The samples in the form of disc were isothermally heated at different temperatures in the range of 800–950 °C and the conversion of barite into barium sulfide was measured by the iodometry. The reduction data were analyzed by a modified kinetic model and the frequency factor and activation energy were calculated to evaluate the reduction mechanism. It was found that the moisture content of the paste significantly affects the active site density due to increasing contact surface area between coke and barite particles.

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