Novel method to prepare sodium chromate from carbon ferrochrome

An oxidizing roasting process of carbon ferrochrome to prepare sodium chromate in the presence of sodium carbonate and air was investigated. The effects of reaction temperature, reaction time, mole ratio of sodium carbonate to carbon ferrochrome were studied, and thermodynamics and kinetics of the reaction were also discussed. It was observed that there was a sudden increase in reaction rate when the temperature rose to a certain value, and the sample with a smaller grain size could start the sudden increase at a lower temperature. The chromium recovery rate increased with the increase of mole ratio of sodium carbonate to carbon ferrochrome, and it reached up to 99.34% when mole ratio of sodium carbonate to carbon ferrochrome increased to 1.2:1. The chromium residue yielded from this method was only about 1/3 of the product. Moreover, the content of Fe in the residue was as high as 60.41%. Therefore, it can be easily recovered to produce sponge iron, realizing complete detoxication and zero-emission of chromium residue.