This invention relates to a low energy hydrometallurgical process for the production of strontium carbonate of chemical and glass grade from carbonate rich celestite ores typically having around 28% combined strontianite, calcite, dolomite and other carbonates. This process avoids negative environmental impact usually associated to calcining technology and involves fewer processing stages than prior art hydrometallurgical processes. Thus, in two stages which provide: (1) the acid wash of the celestite ore in an acid medium to eliminate carbonates present other than strontium carbonates and (2) the conversion of the thus enriched celestite to strontium carbonate in an air/vapor-lift loop reactor using a sodium carbonate aqueous medium, a step permitting recovery of sodium sulfate as a by-product. Thus, an almost complete conversion of the strontium sulfate present in the enriched ore is achieved.
本发明涉及一种低能耗
水冶冶
金工艺,用于从富含
碳酸盐的天青石矿石中生产
化学级和
玻璃级的
碳酸锶,该矿石通常含有约28%的菱
锶矿、
方解石、白云石和其他
碳酸盐。该工艺避免了通常与煅烧技术相关的负面环境影响,并且比先前的
水冶冶
金工艺需要更少的处理阶段。因此,该工艺分为两个阶段:(1)在酸性介质中对天青石矿石进行酸洗,以消除除
碳酸锶以外的
碳酸盐;(2)在使用
碳酸钠水介质的空气/蒸汽提升环反应器中将富集的天青石转化为
碳酸锶,这一步骤允许副产品
硫酸钠的回收利用。因此,实现了富集矿石中存在的几乎完全的
硫酸锶的转化。