Decomposition of Ilmenite from Bangka Island-Indonesia with KOH Solutions

<p> At present work, an experiment to investigate the effect of Ilmenite particle size, aqueous potassium hydroxide (KOH) solution concentrations, temperature, and reaction time on the decomposition reaction of Ilmenite from Bangka Island Indonesian were studied by using 2 liter capacities autoclave as a reactor for decomposition process. The variable used for experiment were covering Ilmenite particle size from -40 mesh up to -200 mesh, aqueous KOH solution concentrations from 2 mole/liter up to 20 mol/liter, decomposition temperature from 100 o C up to 175 o C and decomposition time from 2 hours up to 12 hours.

The result of observation by using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to the decomposed Ilmenite shows that the more finer Ilmenite particle size are more effective to be decomposed by aqueous KOH solutions than the coarse one, the morphology of Ilmenite changed when it was reacted with aqueous KOH solutions, and it significantly change when aqueous KOH solution concentrations were increased from 2 mole/liter up to 20 mol/liter, decomposition temperature were increased from 100 o C up to 175 o C and decomposition time were extended from 2 hours up to 12 hours.