The solubility of oxygen in liquid iron oxide during the combustion of iron rods in high-pressure oxygen

The combustion of pure iron rods in oxygen is characterized by excess oxygen in the molten products. The amount of oxygen dissolved in the molten mass exceeds that required for stoichiometric haematite, Fe2O3, the highest oxidation state for solid iron oxide. Oxygen mass-balance calculations and post-test product analysis suggest that the average oxygen-to-iron molar ratio of the molten oxide product is as high as 2.1 and possibly higher. This corresponds to an increase in oxygen solubility in the molten iron oxide (over that of molten iron metal), which is compatible with the existence of various forms of ferrite ions such as FeO-1/2, Fe2O-4/5, FeO-/3, and Fe2O-8/7. The presence of this excess oxygen confirms the proposed heterogeneous mechanism for the burning of iron, that is, that primary oxidation takes place at an interface between liquid iron and the molten combustion products containing the excess oxygen.