This paper describes a novel

facile chemical pathway for preparing synthetic rutile from ilmenite. The pathway consists of two primary units

i.e

.

selectively sulfating ilmenite

which was realized via roasting ilmenite with (NH

4

)

2

SO

4

followed by selective thermal decomposition of the sulfated ilmenite

and targeted leaching of the impurities. The effects of the process parameters were systematically investigated. The results showed that the optimum sulfation conditions were a mass ratio of (NH

4

)

2

SO

4

to ilmenite of 14

temperature of 360℃

and time of 120 min with a sulfation ratio of~95%. The optimum thermal decomposition conditions were 480℃ in N

2

atmosphere

and nearly all TiOSO

4

were decomposed with co-decomposition of FeSO

4

of 23%. For acid leaching

the optimum conditions were 2.5 wt% HCl

98℃ and 120 min. Under those conditions

94.2% iron was removed with a TiO

2

dissolution loss 1%. For alkali leaching

67% SiO

2

was removed in 5 wt% NaOH at 102℃ for 1 h. A synthetic rutile with a TiO

2

content 92 wt% and total MgO + CaO 1.5 wt% was obtained. Based on these results

a schematic flowsheet was proposed. Additionally

it was found that the decomposition of FeSO

4

mixed with TiOSO

4

under N

2

was inhibited due to its oxidation to a higher thermal stability Fe

2

(SO

4

)

3

by oxygen emitted from the decomposition of TiOSO

4

. At the same time

TiOSO

4

decomposition was promoted due to the immediate in situ consumption of oxygen by FeSO

4

. The synergetic effect might be responsible for the enhanced selectivity of sulfated ilmenite thermal decomposition.