The use of commercial oxygen probes during the production of high titania slags

This work is concerned with studying possible reactions in the ilmenite fur nace which may control the product quality of both slag and metal. Two diff erent approaches were followed: comparing actual furnace slag compositions with the calculated equilibrium values and using commercial oxygen probes t o measure the effective partial oxygen pressure in the slag and metal. It a ppears from a comparison of actual furnace slag compositions (in terms of t he distribution coefficient of vanadium) with equilibrium values, that the TiO1.5-TiO2 reaction may fix the effective partial oxygen pressure for the vanadium reaction. This possibility was tested using commercial oxygen prob es (traditionally applied during steelmaking) to measure the effective oxyg en partial pressure of both the slag and liquid iron in Iscor's 3MVA pilot plant ilmenite furnace. From these measurements, it appears that commercial oxygen probes containing zirconia solid electrolytes can be used to measur e the effective oxygen potential of both the slag and liquid iron. This oxy gen activity correlates well with the FeO content of the slag. The results, furthermore, clearly illustrate that equilibrium conditions are not attain ed in the ilmenite furnace during the production of high titania slags, sin ce the effective oxygen potential of slag and metal differ substantially.