abstract
The alkaline electrolytic production of iron is gaining interest due to the absence of CO2 emissions and significantly lower electrical energy consumption when compared with traditional steelmaking. The possibility of using an iron-bearing pseudobrookite mineral, Fe2TiO5, is explored for the first time as an alternative feedstock for the electrochemical reduction process. To assess relevant impacts of the presence of titanium, similar electroreduction processes were also performed for Fe2TiO5 center dot Fe2O3 and Fe2O3. The electroreduction was attempted using dense and porous ceramic cathodes. Potentiostatic studies at the cathodic potentials of -1.15--1.30 V vs. an Hg|HgO|NaOH reference electrode and a galvanostatic approach at 1 A/cm(2) were used together with electroreduction from ceramic suspensions, obtained by grinding the porous ceramics. The complete electroreduction to Fe-0 was only possible at high cathodic polarizations (-1.30 V), compromising the current efficiencies of the electrochemical process due to the hydrogen evolution reaction impact. Microstructural evolution and phase composition studies are discussed, providing trends on the role of titanium and corresponding electrochemical mechanisms. Although the obtained results suggest that pseudobrookite is not a feasible material to be used alone as feedstock for the electrolytic iron production, it can be considered with other iron oxide materials and/or ores to promote electroreduction.
keywords
HEMATITE PARTICLES; METAL PRODUCTION; ELECTROREDUCTION; REDUCTION; DECOMPOSITION; PERFORMANCE; ADSORPTION; CERAMICS; PIGMENTS; STEEL
subject category
Chemistry; Materials Science; Metallurgy & Metallurgical Engineering; Physics
authors
Lopes, DV; Lisenkov, AD; Ruivo, LCM; Yaremchenko, AA; Frade, JR; Kovalevsky, AV
our authors
Aleksey Lisenkov
Junior Researcher
Aleksey Yaremchenko
Principal Researcher
Andrei Kavaleuski
Principal Researcher
Daniela Vanessa Rosendo Lopes
Junior Researcher
Jorge Ribeiro Frade
Retired Professor
Luís Carlos Marques Ruivo
PhD Studentacknowledgements
This research was funded by the European Commission by the financial support of the project SIDERWIN-DLV-768788-Horizon 2020/SPIRE10.