An alkali roasting process, which consists of roasting with caustic soda, water washing and sulphuric acid leaching, has been found to be an effective method for graphite purification even at low roasting temperature. With this process, a flotation fine concentrate containing 87-88% carbon could be purified to about 99.4% carbon when roasted with 25% NaOH at 250 degreesC and leached by 10% H2SO4 solution at room temperature. In addition to the successful removal of silicate impurities, the process was also found to be effective to eliminate sulphide impurities. For instance, the sulphur content in the end product could be reduced to below 0.05% from 0.6% by the process. Furthermore, the consumption of NaOH can be lowered by using high-grade feed. When using a feed of 95.9% carbon (upgraded by flotation), the NaOH concentration could be reduced to 10% from 25% while the product purity could reach the same purity level of over 99%. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
