The phenomenon of isothermal transition of metastable aluminate solutions into the labile area and prospects of its industrial use
- 1 — Ph.D., Dr.Sci. professor National Mineral Resources University (Mining University)
- 2 — professor Lappeenranta University of Technology
Abstract
The paper presents theoretically based requirements for the activation of synthetic gibbsite for maximum solubility of the activated product. The article describes the methodological foundations of gibbsite thermal activation and its effectiveness evaluation in terms of aluminate solutions decomposition. It is shown that to obtain high-saturation aluminate solutions, activation should provide generation of the reagent with highly-developed surface area, which is not identical to the structure of the deposited gibbsite. As a result of high-gradient thermal activation of synthetic gibbsite, it has been found that the targeted product develops predominantly an amorphous structure with a specific surface area up to 256 m2/ g, preserving its primary particle size. Activation products were investigated using modern methods of physical and chemical analysis. The experimental results confirmed the possibility of the activated product dissolution in the aluminate solution with a metastable compound and their spontaneous decomposition with aluminum hydroxide formation, characterized by high dispersion ability. It is shown, that a significant difference in kinetics and decomposition rates of solutions is connected with the use of a seed material with different particle size composition, which leads to the development of competing mechanisms, resulting in seed recrystallization, homogeneous and heterogeneous nucleation.