The structural changes of silicate anions in the desilication process with the addition of calcium hydrate alumino-carbonate were studied by measuring Raman spectra, infrared spectra and corresponding second derivative spectra. The results show that the desilication ratio in the solution prepared by the addition of sodium silicate(solution-SS) is much greater than that in the solution by the addition of green liquor(solution-GL), and low alumina concentration in the sodium aluminate solutions facilitates the desilication process. It is also shown that alumino-silicate anions in the solution-GL, and Q^3 polymeric silicate anions in solution-SS are predominant, respectively. In addition, increasing the concentration of silica favors respectively the formation of the alumino-silicate or the Q^3 silicate anions in the solution-GL or the solution-SS. Therefore, it can be inferred that the low desilication ratio in the silicate-bearing aluminate solution is mainly attributed to the existence of alumino-silicate anions.
The precipitation of spherical boehmite was studied by surface energy calculations, measurements of precipitation ratios, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. The surface energy calculation results show that the(001) and(112) planes of gibbsite surfaces are remarkably stable because of their low surface energies. In addition, the(010) plane of boehmite grows preferentially during precipitation because of its low surface energy. Thus, we propose a method to precipitate spherical boehmite from a supersaturated sodium aluminate solution by adding gibbsite as seed in a heterogeneous system. In this method, gibbsite acts as the preliminary seed and saturation modifier. The results show that the fine boehmite first nucleates on the(001) and(112) planes of gibbsite and then grows vertically on the(001) and(112) basal planes of gibbsite via self-assembly, thereby forming spherical boehmite. Simultaneously, gibbsite is dissolved into the aluminate solution to maintain the saturation for the precipitation of boehmite. The precipitation ratio fluctuates(forming an M-shaped curve) because of gibbsite dissolution and boehmite precipitation. The mechanism of boehmite precipitation was further discussed on the basis of the differences in surface energy and solubility between gibbsite and boehmite. This study provides an environmentally friendly and economical method to prepare specific boehmite in a heterogeneous system.
The surface properties of superfine alumina trihydrate(ATH) after surface modification were studied by measuring the contact angle, active ratio, oil adsorption, total organic carbon, adsorption ratio, and Fourier transform infrared(FTIR) spectrum. The contact angle increased initially and then slowly decreased with an increase of the amount of stearic acid. However, the surface free energy decreased initially and then increased. Surface modification with stearic acid or sodium stearate can benefit from elevating temperature. The base surface tension component and the free energy of Lewis acid-base both declined sharply following the surface modification. Excess stearic acid was physically adsorbed in the form of multilayer adsorption, and an interaction between oxygen on the ATH surface and hydroxyl in stearic acid was subsequently determined. Our results further indicated that the contact angle and adsorption ratio can be used as control indicators for surface modification compared with active ratio, oil adsorption and total organic carbon.
Gui-hua LiuBo-hao ZhouYun-feng LiTian-gui QiXiao-bin Li
