THE SOLUBILITY OF TITANATE MINERALS IN SYNTHETIC BAYER LIQUORS
Jones F, Chester R, Oliveira A, Loan M
The reactivity of titanium in bauxite can potentially manifest itself in reduced extraction, scaling and as an impurity in alumina, which underlies the importance of understanding the solubility of Ti in Bayer liquor. The solubility of titanium containing minerals: anatase, rutile, sodium titanate and calcium titanate was investigated at 90°C, as technical difficulties prevented measurements at higher temperatures. Overall, solubility was found to be dependant on the free caustic concentration. Rutile and anatase behaved very similarly while sodium titanate had a slightly lower solubility in aluminate liquors. Not surprisingly, calcium titanate had the lowest solubility.