An Efficient and Clean Method for Iron Extraction from Refractory Hematite Using Hydrogen-Based Mineral Phase Transformation
摘要
Hydrogen serves as the reducing gas in hydrogen-based mineral phase transformation (HMPT) technology, offering superior climate compatibility and process efficiency compared to carbon monoxide. This study proposes an integrated flowsheet: multi-stage magnetic separation-HMPT-magnetic separation, designed to enhance overall iron recovery. The process achieved 64.90% Fe grade in pre-concentrate and 60.31% in final concentrate, with a cumulative iron recovery of 96.75%. The experimental results indicated that the optimal mineral phase transformation conditions were transformation temperature of 520°C, transformation time of 10 min, H2 content of 20% and gas velocity of 500 mL/min. Comparative magnetic characterization reveals significant enhancement post-HMPT: the saturation magnetization increased from 0.27 A·m2/kg to 21.85 A·m2/kg, while the specific magnetization susceptibility rose from 0.001 × 10−3 m3/kg to 0.25 × 10−3 m3/kg. It was shown that the HMPT had a great concentration on the increase of magnetism. After the HMPT treatment, cracks appeared on the particle surface and contributed to the transformation from weak magnetism minerals to high magnetism minerals. The methodology significantly improves iron recovery efficiency and provides critical theoretical foundations for industrial implementation of HMPT in iron ore processing.