Oxidation roasting of molybdenite concentrate

In order to investigate the oxidation roasting of molybdenite concentrate in pure oxygen atmosphere, experiments at 673, 723, 773, 873 and 973 K were carried out. The phase transitions and morphology evolutions of the samples obtained at different temperatures after reacting for different time were analyzed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results showed that molybdenite concentrate was oxidized directly to MoO3 in pure oxygen atmosphere. There were remarkable changes of the morphologies of products with the increase of the roasting temperature. It was also found that sintering phenomenon occurred during the roasting process in pure oxygen when the temperature was above 873 K. The composition of sintered sample was mainly comprised of MoO3 and some unreacted MoS2.