Abstract:Aiming at the characteristics of high cost, complex process and large energy consumption of Bayan Obo niobium concentrate utilization process, microwave field was introduced in this study, and effects of temperatures on reduction of niobium concentrate were investigated, and its morphology and kinetic analysis were analyzed. The results show that carbothermal reduction reaction mechanism of niobium concentrate in microwave field belongs to three-dimensional diffusion, the kinetics equation is y=1-(2/3)α-(1-α)2/3, and the apparent activation energy is Ea=131.654 kJ/mol. Compared with conventional heating, microwave heating has the effect of accelerating reaction rate and reducing activation energy.