Scheelite Decomposition by Sodium Silicate
Sodium hydroxide decomposition is the main process for tungsten mineral raw materials. In the alkaline system, phosphorus, arsenic, silicon, molybdenum, tin and other elements contained in the mineral are leached to varying degrees and become the main impurities in the crude sodium tungstate solution. Some scholars have found that when sodium hydroxide decomposes tungsten ore, the calcium content of raw materials is beneficial to inhibit the leaching of impurities such as phosphorus, arsenic and silicon, and the leaching rate of these impurities decreases with the increase of calcium content. The results show that the oxy acids of phosphorus, arsenic and silicon can form insoluble compounds with calcium, and these precipitates can still exist stably under the condition that scheelite has been decomposed. Because of this, in the purification process of crude sodium tungstate solution, adding appropriate amount of Ca(OH) 2 can also remove the above three impurities. The precipitatio...