• ERMS: Enhanced Roasting and Magnetic Separation
• EARS: Enhanced Acid Regeneration System
• ERMS SR Process
• LTR Process
• CLR Process
  

ERMS

ERMS is a roasting process which magnetises ilmenite and makes it amenable to leaching in hydrochloric acid. Magnetised ilmenite can then be easily separated from deleterious gangue minerals such as chromite.

EARS is a process to regenerate hydrochloric acid from waste iron chloride liquors produced by leaching ilmenite. An important co-product generated by the EARS process is saleable iron oxide.

ERMS SR Process

The ERMS SR Process combines the ERMS and EARS processes in a number of innovative but well-proven process steps to produce a very high grade synthetic rutile from any type of ilmenite. The ERMS SR Process is the most environmentally friendly process for the production of synthetic rutile. Ilmenite, which is composed of iron oxide and titanium dioxide, is initially ERMS roasted to convert the titanium component into the insoluble rutile form, while conditioning the iron component for leaching. It is then rapidly leached at atmospheric pressure in strong hydrochloric acid to remove the iron, leaving a network of rutile crystals in the former ilmenite grain. This "synthetic" rutile is then washed, filtered and heated (calcined) to make the final saleable product. The iron chloride leach liquors are processed in an EARS plant to regenerate the strong acid, leaving benign iron oxide pellets that can be sold to the steel or cement industries. The ERMS SR Process has the unique advantage of producing a very high grade product (typically 96% to 98% TiO2), significantly higher grade than other commercially available synthetic rutiles. The ERMS SR Process is the only continuous synthetic rutile process in the world, and it produces a saleable iron co-product rather than the waste iron oxide muds produced by other synthetic rutile processes. An ERMS SR plant is less capital intensive than plants employing other processes. Furthermore, the EARS process regenerates all of the acid used in leaching, to produce strong acid (typically 25% w/w HCl while other processes produce 18% w/w HCl). This makes the leaching step significantly faster and therefore more cost effective than other acid leach processes.

LTR Process

The LTR Process was initially developed to treat chromite-bearing ilmenite concentrates. By using a low temperature fluid bed toasting technique the magnetic susceptibility of the ilmenite can be enhanced sufficiently to allow magnetic separation without affecting its sulfateability (i.e. it can be used in the sulfate TiO2 process). Recent testwork indicates the LTR Process also has application in the steel industry.

CLR Process

The CLR Process uses a proprietary leach vessel designed by Austpac to continuously leach ilmenite to produce ERMS SR, and replaces the batch system formerly used by Austpac and still used by other synthetic rutile producers. This simplifies operations and reduces the size of the equipment, which is reflected in lower capital and operating costs for the leach section.

Pilot Plant

Kooragang Island, Newcastle

Austpac has continued to expand and develop the facilities at its pilot plant on Kooragang Island in Newcastle. The 100mm diameter batch fluid bed roaster is routinely used for initial assessment of ores to set the parameters for continuous runs. This unit also establishes the base line for full scale plant performance, known as the standard reference test. Three continuous fluid bed roasters (250mm, 400mm and 500mm bed diameter) can be operated individually or in series, using solid, liquid or gaseous fuels, which provides a great deal of flexibility to the roasting operations. Further versatility was added in the form of another 250mm bed diameter roaster on the third level of the pilot plant. This roaster is employed as a gasifier to convert coal to reducing gases for specific operations which require low temperature conditions. Austpac has also built a Low Temperature Roaster (LTR), which ensures that the TiO2 is not rutilized, and therefore the ilmenite remains soluble in acid. The resulting product is suitable for both chloride-route and sulfate-route pigment plants. For final proving test runs, off-gases have been collected and assessed on a continuous on-line basis by an independent environmental research laboratory specialising in this activity. A new after-burner efficiently recovers all the energy in the plant for preheating and eliminates emissions of reducing gases. This ensures there are no dioxins or furans in the off-gases, which therefore meet the most stringent environmental standards. Austpac's system of inter-linked multiple fluid beds is unique in Australia and provides the most cost effective plant in the world for piloting applications available to the mineral sands industry. The leaching of roasted ilmenite to remove iron can be undertaken in batches in specially designed vessels which assist leaching and minimise particle breakdown. Many tonnes of ERMS synthetic rutile have been produced by batch leaching proving it is a reliable technique for the production of high grade product. The Company's engineers have recently designed a continuous leaching system and an application for a worldwide patent has been lodged. We anticipate that our continuous leaching process will offer significant reductions in capital and operating costs compared with the batch systems used by other synthetic rutile processes. The ERMS SR Process will be the only continuous synthetic rutile production process in the world. The Becher and Benilite synthetic rutile processes, which are currently used by feedstock manufacturers, produce a waste product of fine iron oxide, in the form of black or red mud. The ERMS SR Process produces benign iron oxide pellets which can be sold to the steel or cement industries. ERMS SR is therefore more environmentally friendly than the other processes. Both our synthetic rutile and acid regeneration technologies have been operated at the pilot plant for extended periods and we are confident that they both can be readily scaled up to a commercial operation. Over the past three years, the pilot plant has been operated to further refine design data for an ERMS SR plant. Testwork has also been conducted on substantial ore shipments for BeMaX Resources N.L. In addition, work has been undertaken on ilmenites from the Murray Basin, Eastern Australia, Africa, India and other deposits elsewhere in the world. This included the removal of chromite and other deleterious gangue minerals from ilmenite concentrates, the modification of the chemical properties of ilmenite to improve product acceptability and the production of synthetic rutile samples. We have also undertaken work on mineral separation, treatment and agglomeration of fine grained heavy minerals from the WIM 150 mineral sand deposit in Victoria. These activities are described in the relevant sections of Austpac's 2001, 2002 and 2003 Annual Reports, which are contained in the Reports section of this web site.