Selective leaching of steel pollutant element from Dilband iron ore, Pakistan.

Dilband Iron ore of Pakistan is a lean grade ore which contains a sufficient amount of a phosphorus-bearing mineral called fluorapatite. Since phosphorus is widely acknowledged as a steel pollutant and disturbs the blast furnace chemistry, it needs to be removed effectively from the ore before the smelting operation. The present paper, therefore, aims to provide the results of phosphorus leaching efficiency with HCl, HNO3 and H2SO4 reagents. Results showed that H2SO4 leached the phosphorus quite selectively as compared to HCl and HNO3. Henceforth, it was possible to eradicate 49.5, 55.6 and 82.2% P2O5 from -600+212, -212+106, and -106 micron particle size fractions respectively with 1% concentrated H2SO4.The gradual increasing trend of dephosphorisation with decreasing the particle size implies that, in finer size fraction liberation of fluorapatite mineral was amplified. Scanning Electron Microscopy analysis provided supporting evidence in this regard.
Dilband Iron ore of Pakistan is a lean grade ore which contains a sufficient amount of a phosphorus-bearing mineral called fluorapatite. Since phosphorus is widely acknowledged as a steel pollutant and disturbs the blast furnace chemistry, it needs to be removed effectively from the ore before the smelting operation. The present paper, therefore, aims to provide the results of phosphorus leaching efficiency with HCl, HNO3 and H2SO4 reagents. Results showed that H2SO4 leached the phosphorus quite selectively as compared to HCl and HNO3. Henceforth, it was possible to eradicate 49.5, 55.6 and 82.2% P2O5 from -600+212, -212+106, and -106 micron particle size fractions respectively with 1% concentrated H2SO4.The gradual increasing trend of dephosphorisation with decreasing the particle size implies that, in finer size fraction liberation of fluorapatite mineral was amplified. Scanning Electron Microscopy analysis provided supporting evidence in this regard.