Fabrication of Cr$_2$O$_3$powder from waste MgO-Cr refractory

The possibility of producing Cr$_2$O$_3$powder from waste magnesia-chromium refractory was investigated by sulfuric acid reaction, alkali fusion, water leaching & purification and heat treatment. The effects of temperature, the amount of NaOH added and the flow rate of air on chromium extraction efficiency in an alkali fusion step were investigated. The fusion product was leached with methanol to solve free-NaOH, and then leached with water to produce a Na$_2$CrO$_4$solution. The purity of chrome(Ⅵ) oxides, prepared both from monochromate with an impurity content and monochromate purified with $CO_2$were also examined. The purified monochromate solution was reduced from Cr(Ⅵ) to Cr(III) with NaHSO$_3$solution. The reduced solution was neutralized with NaOH to produce Cr(OH)$_3$. Water washing was treated to eliminate Na$_2$SO$_4$from neutralized Cr(OH)$_3$slurry. The washed Cr(OH)$_3$was dried and thermally treated to produce Cr$_2$O$_3$powder. The properties like lightness and hue of Cr$_2$O$_3$fabricated in this study were L=47.47, a=-14.40 and b=17.21.