Development of Process Flow Sheet for Looping Sulfide Oxidation™ of Molybdenite Concentrates

A process simulation of the conversion of molybdenum disulfide concentrates into molybdenum dioxide via the Looping Sulfide Oxidation process has been performed using HSC 7.1 thermodynamic software. By decoupling molybdenite conversion and molybdenum oxidation, Looping Sulfide Oxidation changes the paradigm by turning molybdenite processing into an energy generator while producing a molybdenum dioxide, which has a lower vapor pressure and lower oxygen content than molybdenum trioxide. The Looping Sulfide Oxidation process selectively produces molybdenum dioxide over molybdenum trioxide. This process uses a stoichiometric mixture of oxygen and molybdenum trioxide as oxidants in the conversion of the molybdenum sulfide to the molybdenum oxide. The model simulates the two reactor scheme required by Looping Sulfide Oxidation and incorporates thermodynamic equilibrium simulations performed in FactSage 6.3.1 thermodynamic software. Energy capture is also maximized with heat exchanger systems to transfer heat released in reactions to preheat air.