Low-Temperature Electrowinning of Iron from Mixed Hematite-Magnetite Alkaline Suspensions

Iron ore represents a potential feedstock for the alkaline electrowinning of iron from suspensions. However, several difficulties can be imposed during the electrowinning due to the presence of several iron oxide types with different iron valences (e.g. hematite with magnetite), requiring further studies for establishing electrowinning as an alternative technology for iron production. In fact, an adverse effect on the Faradaic efficiency was previously reported when using magnetite as feedstock. The present study demonstrates, for the first time, the possibility of obtaining relatively high Faradaic efficiencies (66%) with hematite-magnetite mixtures at low temperature (80 degrees C). (c) 2023 The Author(s). Published on behalf of The Electrochemical Society by IOP Publishing Limited. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (CC BY, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse of the work in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Automated summary

Iron ore can be used as a potential feedstock for the electrowinning of iron, but the presence of different iron oxide types poses difficulties and further studies are required to establish electrowinning as an alternative technology for iron production. Previous studies have shown adverse effects on the Faradaic efficiency when using magnetite as feedstock. This study demonstrates, for the first time, the possibility of obtaining relatively high Faradaic efficiencies (66%) with hematite-magnetite mixtures at low temperature (80 degrees C).