| Abstract: | This paper investigated the oxidation of fayalite (Fe2SiO4) in iron-rich nickel slag (INS) for iron recycling via an oxidation-magnetic separation method. A phase stability diagram of the FeO–SiO2–MgO–CaO–O2 system drawn by FactSage 7.1 illustrates that magnetite (Fe3O4) can be crystallized from liquid slag in an air atmosphere, but the further oxidation to Fe2O3 in molten slag was extremely hard. The mass content of divalent iron (w(Fe2+)) decreased and the ratio of trivalent iron to divalent iron (w(Fe3+)/w(Fe2+)) increased gradually with increasing oxidation time. The results show that an air flow rate of 300–500 mL/min, a basicity of 0.90–1.10, and a temperature of 1658–1728 K are conducive to the oxidation of Fe2SiO4 in INS. Fe3O4 is the main iron-bearing phase, and Fe2O3 is not observed in the X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns. Silicates in the oxidized nickel slag (ONS) are mainly augite (Ca(Mg,Fe)Si2O6), forsterite ((Mg,Fe)2SiO4), and monticellite (CaMgSiO4), while akermanite (Ca2MgSi2O7) is observed only for a basicity up to 1.10. The oxidation kinetics of Fe2SiO4 in INS are first order with an apparent activation energy (Ea) of 315.16 kJ/mol. |
