Investigating the Effect of Ethanol and Ascorbic Acid on Titanium Dioxide Extraction from Ilmenite by Oxalic Acid

In the present study, alkali roasting and oxalic acid leaching were used to extract titanium dioxide from ilmenite, and the effect of ethanol and ascorbic acid on the purity and recovery of titanium dioxide was investigated. In this research, ilmenite was alkali roasted with sodium carbonate for 4 hours at 900˚C. Then, the roasted ilmenite was leached with distilled water for 1 hour at room temperature. Finally, leaching with a mixture of 0.47M oxalic acid and different amounts of ascorbic acid and ethanol was performed at 65˚C. The results showed that using ethanol caused an increase in the amount of recovery and ascorbic acid increased the purity of the extracted titanium dioxide; also, the presence of these two factors at the same time simultaneously increased the amount of purity and recovery of the final product. Eventually, by choosing 0.47M oxalic acid, 0.005M ascorbic acid, and 48% ethanol as the appropriate conditions for leaching media and increasing the leaching time and temperature to 16 hours and 80˚C, it was possible to get titanium dioxide purities which were as high as 93.3% and 90.9%, respectively.