Gas phase extraction of iron from its oxide in a fluidized bed reactor

Interest in extraction processes that utilise organic ligands in the gas phase has been growing since such processes appear to eliminate many of the problems of high energy costs and complexity encountered in conventional hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical processes. The effect of temperature, ligand concentration and metal oxide concentration on such an iron extraction process was investigated. The ligand was introduced to the fluidized bed reactor containing the different concentrations of metal oxides at different flow rates through an evaporator. Gas phase extraction was shown to result in reasonable extractions in short periods of time, with iron extraction above 80% after 4 h for the low metal oxide concentration charge. The process was shown to depend on all the mentioned variables, and there is need to find a relationship which will be able to predict how extraction proceeds with time.