Hydrothermal Synthesis of Hematite (α-Fe2O3) from Indonesia Iron Sand

Abstract

High potency of Indonesian iron sand can be optimized by transforming to valuable iron oxide product namely Hematite (α-Fe₂O₃). Hydrothermal synthesis was carried out to transform iron oxide phase to hematite that can be analyzed by x-ray diffraction method. Utilization of ion sand as raw material produced multyphase in product reaction, while  the usage of Fe(OH)_x that extracted from iron sand attained high purity of hematite. The best conditions of reaction were at 160 ^oC for 24 h. Higher temperature and longer time reaction transformed α- α-Fe₂O₃ to be γ-Al₂O₃ and Fe₃O₄ as more stable phase.