Effect of Thermal Treatment on the Physicochemical Characteristics of Iron Sand from Pantai Panjang, Indonesia
Description
Research hypothesis: Thermal treatment changes the physical mass and relative elemental composition of iron sand from Pantai Panjang, Bengkulu. Heating, especially at the higher temperature, was expected to reduce sample mass, lower the relative Fe concentration, raise the relative Si + Al proportion, and shift Ti by comparatively less. Because iron sand is naturally heterogeneous, the size of these changes was expected to vary across sampling locations. Data and how it was collected: Researchers collected sand from eight locations along Pantai Panjang using proportional random sampling. Approximately 50 g from each location was dried, weighed, and magnetically separated to recover the magnetic iron-sand fraction. The recovered magnetic fraction ranged from 3.78 to 13.05 g, showing substantial spatial variation. Approximately 2 g from each fraction was heated for 20 minutes under two conditions: approximately 350 °C and 450 °C. Mass was measured before and after heating. Elemental composition was measured before and after treatment using portable X-ray fluorescence (XRF), focusing on Fe, Si + Al (reported as the balance fraction), Ti, and trace elements. What the data shows: Before heating, Fe ranged from 28.62% to 49.17%, Si + Al from 42.06% to 65.83%, and Ti from 4.22% to 6.36% — confirming that the material was compositionally heterogeneous. Heating generally reduced sample mass, though the reduction was not completely consistent across all samples. Fe decreased in seven of eight samples at 450 °C, while Si + Al increased in seven of eight samples; at 350 °C, Fe decreased and Si + Al increased in all samples with available measurements. In Sample 5, for instance, Fe fell from 42.55% before heating to 32.72% at 350 °C and 25.61% at 450 °C, while Si + Al rose from 49.66% to 61.19% and 68.64%. Ti changed less consistently and generally less strongly than Fe and Si + Al. Notable findings and interpretation: Thermal treatment alters both the mass and relative elemental distribution of Pantai Panjang iron sand, but the response is strongly sample-dependent. Sample 7 was an important exception at 450 °C: Fe increased from 28.62% to 37.36%, while Si + Al decreased from 65.83% to 55.91%. The results support a general thermal effect but do not demonstrate a uniform temperature-response relationship.
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Institutions
- Diponegoro UniversityCentral Java, Semarang