Effect of Reaction Temperature on the Synthesis of TiO<sub>2</sub> from Titanium Slag and Sodium Hydroxide via Heat Treatment

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is important in many industrial fields. Industrial TiO2 is mainly produced from ilmenite and rutile ore, two abundant global resources. Studies have shown that the calcination method with NaOH can help prepare TiO2 from titanium slag. In this study, the effect of reaction temperature between titanium slag and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) was investigated in the process of separating TiO2 from titanium slag. The formed product was evaluated for TiO2 content, Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and Scanning Electron Microscopy to evaluate the properties. The results showed that the reaction temperature had a significant effect on the TiO2 content of the product after separation. The TiO2 content decreased with increasing reaction temperature. The decrease in content is due to increased hydroxyl groups in the product. At a reaction temperature of 700 °C, the product had the highest TiO2 content of 96.78 wt.%. The results also indicated that the product's main allotropic form of TiO2 is rutile.