Characterization of the Oxidation Roasting of Low Grade Molybdenite Concentrate

Molybdenite concentrate () is the major mineral for the molybdenum industry, of which the industrial processing is first converted to technical grade molybdenum trioxide () by its oxidative roasting and purification, used as a raw material for manufacturing several molybdenum compounds. In the present work, detailed experimental results for the oxidative roasting of low grade Mongolian molybdenite concentrate are presented. The experiments were carried out in the temperature range of 793 to 823 K under an oxygen partial pressure range of 0.08 atm to 0.21 atm by using a thermogravimetric analysis technique. The molybdenite concentrate was an average particle size of . In the oxidative roasting of low grade Mongolian molybdenite concentrate, more than 95% of molybdenite was converted to molybdenum trioxide in 60 min. at 828 K. The lander equation was found to be useful in describing the rates of the oxidative roasting and the reaction order with respect to oxygen concentration in a gaseous mixture with nitrogen was 0.11 order.