A study on carbothermic reduction of ilmenite ore in a plasma reactor

Ilmenite has been smelted in a plasma reactor to study the effect of variou s process parameters such as the amount of reductant, flux, and composition of plasmagen gas on the degree of reaction to recover titanium and iron. E xperimental conditions suitable for preparing a TiC-rich Fe-TiC master allo y and TiC-reinforced cast-iron composites have been determined. Thermodynam ic data on various possible reactions are summarized and analyzed to explai n the experimental observations.