Novel Method for Preparing Amorphous Titanyl Sulfate from Hydrous Titanium Oxide

Abstract

A novel process for preparing amorphous titanyl sulfate powder using low-cost hydrated titanium oxide (HTO), an intermediate in the sulfate TiO2 process, was explored. We investigated the effects of the H2SO4/HTO mass ratio, calcination temperature, and calcination time on the conversion of titanyl sulfate and optimized the process conditions for preparing crude titanyl sulfate. The effects of the thermal drying temperature on the water solubility and TiO2 content of amorphous titanyl sulfate products were also studied. In addition, thermogravimetric–differential scanning calorimetry analysis was performed on hydrated titanium oxide. High-quality amorphous titanyl sulfate powder was obtained through a series of steps including granulation, calcination, crushing, leaching, filtration, vacuum evaporation concentration, and thermal drying. The composition, crystal structure, density, and other physicochemical properties of the product were confirmed using analysis techniques such as reduction–oxidation titration, gravimetric analysis, X-ray diffraction, atomic absorption spectroscopy, and UV–vis spectroscopy. The results demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method for producing high-quality amorphous titanyl sulfate powder. As far as we know, this new process for preparing amorphous titanyl sulfate from HTO is reported for the first time.