Thermodynamic analysis of the plasma production of ferroniobium from a loparite concentrate

The possibility of pyrometallurgical processing of a loparite concentrate at a temperature of 2000–4000 K and a pressure of 0.1 MPa is thermodynamically studied using the TERRA software package. It is found that the niobium concentration in the concentrate almost doubles during plasma heating as a result of thermal decomposition and the precipitation of rare-earth metals into a gas phase. Crude niobium can be extracted from the thermally decomposed concentrate by carbothermic or aluminothermic reduction. After plasma-arc vacuum refining, crude niobium can be used for making commercial ferroniobium. The calculated energy consumed for the plasma production of ferroniobium from the loparite concentrate by carbothermic or aluminothermic reduction under adiabatic conditions is 46.6 or 79.0 GJ/(t ferroniobium), respectively. The energy consumption can even be increased severalfold, and the implementation of the process remains economically efficient at the existing market price of ferroniobium.

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