The current rate of industrial production of titanium dioxide, from natural ilmenite, is around 6500 kT per annum. The two main processes used, namely, sulfate and chloride processes, require concentrated corrosive acids and drastic conditions, such as 1000 °C, in open processes, thus contributing to considerable costs and environmental pollution. To reduce the cost and impact to the environment, a closed process involving a rotatory autoclaving followed by refluxing and stationary solvothermal treatment of ilmenite, below 170 °C, was developed. The as-synthesized product is 100% pure titanium dioxide in its amorphous state (24% crystallinity), which has nanorods arranged in a flowerlike morphology. This can be converted to over 99% pure anatase phase with 90% crystallinity and 100% pure rutile phase nanorods with 98% crystallinity by calcining at 350 and 650 °C, respectively. The direct band gaps of the three materials are 3. 40, 3.60, and 3.15 eV, respectively.
In our previous publication, we published a simple, low-cost, and environmentally friendly process for the breaking down of the ilmenite lattice using rotary autoclaving, separation of titanium and iron components, and the conversion of the titanium component to amorphous TiO2 and phase-specific titanium dioxide nanorods. Here, the separated iron component was converted into iron oxide (magnetite and hematite) and iron oxy-hydroxide (akaganeite, β-FeOOH) nanoparticles. The process flow diagram is presented to explain the steps involved. The materials synthesized are fully characterized by X-ray diffractogram (XRD), scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (SEM-EDAX), and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), and it is shown that they contain 100% pure iron oxide and iron oxy-hydroxide nanoparticles without any detectable impurities. All of the chemical reactions involved in this process, which contribute to the mechanism of the process, are given. So far, such a low-cost, environmentally friendly, and low-temperature process has not been documented, and the process can be scaled-up for mass production of these nanomaterials used in various technological applications.
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