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New process for treating boron-bearing iron ore by flash reduction coupled with magnetic separation

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International Journal of Minerals, Metallurgy and Materials Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Boron is an important industrial raw material often sourced from minerals containing different compounds that cocrystallize, which makes it difficult to separate the mineral phases through conventional beneficiation. This study proposed a new treatment called flash reduction-melting separation (FRMS) for boron-bearing iron concentrates. In this method, the concentrates were first flash-reduced at the temperature under which the particles melt, and the slag and the reduced iron phases disengaged at the particle scale. Good reduction and melting effects were achieved above 1550°C. The B2O3 content in the separated slag was over 18wt%, and the B content in the iron was less than 0.03wt%. The proposed FRMS method was tested to investigate the effects of factors such as ore particle size and temperature on the reduction and melting steps with and without pre-reducing the raw concentrate. The mineral phase transformation and morphology evolution in the ore particles during FRMS were also comprehensively analyzed.

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Acknowledgements

This study was financially supported by the Science and Technology Special Plan Project from China Minmetals Group (No. 2020ZXA01), the International Exchange and Growth Program for Young Teachers (No. QNXM2022 0061), and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2022YFC2906100).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Advanced Metallurgy, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Qipeng Bao, Lei Guo, Haibin Zuo, Feng Liu & Zhancheng Guo

  2. Department of Materials Science & Engineering, University of Utah, Utah, 84112, USA

    Hong Yong Sohn

  3. China ENFI Engineering Corporation, Beijing, 100038, China

    Yongliang Gao

Authors
  1. Qipeng Bao
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  2. Lei Guo
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  3. Hong Yong Sohn
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  4. Haibin Zuo
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  5. Feng Liu
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  6. Yongliang Gao
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  7. Zhancheng Guo
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Correspondence to Lei Guo or Zhancheng Guo.

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Zhancheng Guo is an editorial board member for this journal and was not involved in the editorial review or the decision to publish this article. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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12613_2023_2756_MOESM1_ESM.docx

Supplementary Information: New process for treating boron-bearing iron ore by flash reduction coupled with magnetic separation

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Bao, Q., Guo, L., Sohn, H.Y. et al. New process for treating boron-bearing iron ore by flash reduction coupled with magnetic separation. Int J Miner Metall Mater 31, 473–484 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-023-2756-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-023-2756-9

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