Kinetic Study of Barite Carbothermic Reduction in Presence of Sodium Carbonate as Catalyst

The catalytic reduction of barite in the presence of sodium carbonate has been investigated to evaluate the effect of catalyst amount on reaction mechanism. Different amounts of sodium carbonate ranging from 2.5-10.0 wt.% were doped on coke and the test samples containing stoichiometric mixes of barite and coke powders wereisothermally heated in air atmosphere. The catalytic effect of sodium carbonate wasstudied by isothermal experiments performed at different temperatures and reductiontimes. The conversion–time data were analyzed by using a modified kinetic model andthe influence of catalyst content on kinetic parameters was evaluated. The results showthat the addition of 7.5 wt.% sodium carbonate significantly decreases activation energy. Finally, the article concludes that catalyst amount has a negligible role ongasification of coke if the reduction process is carried out at high temperature close to1100°C. The obtained results can be useful in industrial practice.