ArticlePublisher preview available

Efficient Recycling of High-grade Concentrate Powders from Feldspar Slime Using Mechanochemically Assisted Acid Leaching

Authors:
To read the full-text of this research, you can request a copy directly from the authors.

Abstract and Figures

Feldspar beneficiation produces large amounts of slime waste, which should be efficiently recycled to achieve the economic and environmental benefits. In this study, mechanochemically assisted acid leaching (MAL) was employed to efficiently recycle high-grade concentrate powders, and the physically beneficiated powder from feldspar slime was initially used as a feedstock to reduce gangue mineral disturbance. Milling time and leaching parameters were investigated to reveal their effects on the mass recovery and whiteness of concentrate powders, and the purification mechanism was clarified by chemical reactions and leaching kinetics. The colored minerals were partially liberated and removed by the mechanochemical treatment and further reduced by acid leaching. The optimal MAL process consists of 2 h milling of the feedstock powder in the 5% HCl solution and acid leaching at 95 °C for 4 h. When the feldspar slime was beneficiated by the combination of magnetic separation and MAL, the mass recovery of the ultrafine (0.72 μm) concentrate powder was 76.7%, with a grade of 0.10% Fe2O3. The whiteness’s of the powder and the burnt sample were 91.2% and 64.3% respectively. This facile processing route enables commercial recovery of high-grade concentrate powders from feldspar slime, thus promoting sustainable exploitation of feldspar resources. Graphical Abstract
This content is subject to copyright. Terms and conditions apply.
Vol.:(0123456789)
Waste and Biomass Valorization (2024) 15:3811–3821
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-024-02426-2
ORIGINAL PAPER
Efficient Recycling ofHigh‑grade Concentrate Powders fromFeldspar
Slime Using Mechanochemically Assisted Acid Leaching
JinshanLu1 · JunxiongZhan1· DiWang1
Received: 8 August 2023 / Accepted: 10 January 2024 / Published online: 16 February 2024
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2024
Abstract
Feldspar beneficiation produces large amounts of slime waste, which should be efficiently recycled to achieve the economic
and environmental benefits. In this study, mechanochemically assisted acid leaching (MAL) was employed to efficiently
recycle high-grade concentrate powders, and the physically beneficiated powder from feldspar slime was initially used as
a feedstock to reduce gangue mineral disturbance. Milling time and leaching parameters were investigated to reveal their
effects on the mass recovery and whiteness of concentrate powders, and the purification mechanism was clarified by chemi-
cal reactions and leaching kinetics. The colored minerals were partially liberated and removed by the mechanochemical
treatment and further reduced by acid leaching. The optimal MAL process consists of 2h milling of the feedstock powder
in the 5% HCl solution and acid leaching at 95°C for 4h. When the feldspar slime was beneficiated by the combination of
magnetic separation and MAL, the mass recovery of the ultrafine (0.72μm) concentrate powder was 76.7%, with a grade of
0.10% Fe2O3. The whiteness’s of the powder and the burnt sample were 91.2% and 64.3% respectively. This facile process-
ing route enables commercial recovery of high-grade concentrate powders from feldspar slime, thus promoting sustainable
exploitation of feldspar resources.
Graphical Abstract
Lattice impurity
Inclusion
Associated mineral
MCT AL
Gel layers
Feldspars
Keywords Feldspar slime· Colored minerals· Mechanochemical treatment· Acid leaching· Burnt whiteness
Statement ofNovelty
Mechanochemical assisted acid leaching provides an eco-
nomically viable method to recover high quality concentrate
powders from feldspar slime with significantly higher mass
recoveries compared to physical beneficiation.
* Jinshan Lu
1474202488@qq.com
1 School ofMaterials Science andEngineering, Nanchang
Hangkong University, Nanchang330063, Jiangxi, China
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
... Furthermore, the release rate was higher in oxalic acid compared to acetic acid. Lu et al. [43] utilised mechanochemically assisted acid leaching (MAL) to recycle high-grade concentrate powders effectively. Under optimal MAL conditions, they achieved a mass recovery of 76.7% for ultrafine (0.72 μm) concentrate powder with a grade of 0.10% Fe 2 O 3 . ...
Article
Full-text available
The dissolution of amorphous and crystalline oligoclase, a Na-feldspar with traces of Ca and K, was investigated at 90 °C and acidic pH of 1.5 and 3 to unravel the impact of long- and short-range orders on silicate dissolution mechanisms. Experiments were conducted in solutions spiked with 29SiO2(aq) and saturated with respect to SiO2(am). Through morphology, structural, and composition characterizations, we showed that on the amorphous samples (glass samples), the altered layer was mostly formed by leaching, while a combination of both interfacial precipitation and leaching explains the layers formed on the crystalline sample. As expected, the altered layer was thicker at the most acidic pH and it became passivating on crystalline sample at pH 3. The alteration was faster on amorphous oligoclase than on its crystalline equivalent due to the more open structure of the glass. The preferential release of Al was suggested to play a key role, by weakening the silicate network of both substrates. Finally, in this study, a large overestimation of the global alteration of the materials was noticed based on the solution analyses. Discrepancies with solid analyses were attributed to an underestimation (≥2-fold factor) of the total reactive surface area.
Article
Full-text available
The third crucial macronutrient required for the development and growth of plants in addition to nitrogen and phosphorous is potassium. The quantity of soluble potassium in soil that could be directly taken up by plants is less and present in the form of evaporite deposits situated in countries lying in the Northern hemisphere such as Canada, Belarus, Israel, USA and Russia. All other countries are dependent on imports from these countries to fulfil their potash requirement. But a major part of potassium exists in insoluble form as silicate minerals abundantly in these countries which can compensate for the potassium deficit. Mostly feldspar and feldspathoid from the tectosilicate group and micaceous minerals from the phyllosilicate group are the common potassium bearing silicates containing 5–15% K2O. Tectosilicates are framework silicates in which potassium is present in the three-dimensional silicate tetrahedra. Phyllosilicates are sheet silicates having a two-dimensional parallel sheet structure and potassium ions are located in the interlayers of the silicate structure. Various processes have been adopted to release the potassium from these silicate resources such as bio-leaching using various algal, bacterial and yeast strains, acid leaching with different acids of varying concentrations, base leaching with diverse strategies and roast-leach studies with alkali and alkaline salts to optimise the recovery. This review summarizes versatile methodologies that have been approached and the scope of various works that could be further accomplished.
Article
Full-text available
Feldspars are the most abundant mineral in the earth’s crust, however, their interest in ceramic industry goes beyond their abundancy. The unique compositional and structural features as well as the many outstanding properties that feldspars own, make them to be widely used as raw material for the ceramic industry. Moreover, multiple works have demonstrated that engineered feldspar-based ceramics are very promising for their use in applications such as ceramic tiles, dielectrics or phosphors, among others, and therefore, in this article, a comprehensive review on their dielectric, mechanical, optical and thermal properties is presented. This review intends to provide an up-to-date outlook of the possibilities that engineered feldspars offer to their application in ceramic industry, discussing future prospects and challenges that might ease the opening up of new horizons for future applications in ceramic sector.
Article
The technology of transforming potassium minerals from potassium feldspar into soluble potassium by acid hydrolysis, and discussed the leaching mechanism of potassium in the process of leaching. The results showed that the dissolution efficiency of potassium was 76 % under the conditions of 8.05 g·g⁻¹ 70 wt% H2SO4, 0.5 g·g⁻¹ ammonium fluoride, 130 ± 2 °C and a reaction time of 2 h. The compound effect is much greater than the acid effect in the process of acid leaching. The ionization-hydrolysis model of potassium leaching is built, [K⁺] increases with the addition of [H⁺] and each side reaction coefficient. Without considering the precipitation effect of K2SiF6 and K3AlF6, [K⁺] is subjected to the joint action of [H⁺] and [F⁻]. When pH is constant, [K⁺] goes up as [F⁻] increases; when [F⁻] is constant, [K⁺] increases with the rise of [H⁺]. But the increase of [K⁺] in the solution intensifies the occurrence of side reaction of potassium, forming precipitation and decreasing the presence of soluble potassium in solution.
Article
Feldspar, a low-alumina, and abundantly available aluminosilicate source, is explored in this study to extract aluminum and potassium values. The sample comprises lamellar layers of microcline and albite with quartz containing 17.4% Al2O3, 9.67% K2O, and 66.3% SiO2. Mechanical (milling) and thermal (alkali and acid baking) activation are investigated, followed by HCl leaching. The milling treatment up to 6 h is inefficient in phase dissociation and results in ~ 40% Al and K dissolution. The alkali thermal treatment yielded 80% Al and 71% K extraction. Direct precipitation of the dissolved Al and Si values yielded alumina purity of ~ 29%, and silica gelation separated SiO2 and improved alumina product (94% purity, 71% recovery). Acid baking yielded 98% pure alumina precipitate; however, Al and K extraction were limited to ~ 45% and 65%, respectively. The microwave-assisted alkali treatment was optimal with 800 W and 10 min processing conditions yielding 80% Al and 71% K recovery with 2.26 kWh/kg alumina of thermal energy consumption. The final product contains γ-alumina with a specific surface area of 87 m2/g.
Article
As a mineral resource, due to its stable physical chemistry properties, quartz has a wide range of uses, such as silica glass, silica ceramics, silicon metal in the semiconductor field, solar cells in the photovoltaic field, silica fiber in the fiber-optic communication field, and so on. These applications have the participation of high-purity quartz. The purification of high-purity quartz is an important field for quartz. However, it is very difficult to further purify quartz into high-purity quartz, or even ultra-high-purity quartz, which the cost will increase accordingly. Nevertheless, high-purity quartz in the field of high-tech applications is more prominent, its value will be greatly enhanced. In this review, by introducing the resources and application distribution of high purity quartz, and comparing with the import and export in the world, it is concluded that quartz has a good future for development; by introducing the types of quartz ores and the characteristics of impurities and combining with the most advanced purification technology at present, a reference is provided for the following improvement of purification technology. In addition, the mechanisms are summarized for different purification techniques to explore the more effective techniques for quartz purification and its potential application prospects are described in the future. In this paper, in order to know the present situation and development prospect of resources, technology and application in quartz, its resource, characteristic, purification, and application are reviewed.
Article
In this study, foam ceramics were prepared via a direct foaming method at high temperatures (1080–1120 °C), using red mud (RM) and K-feldspar washed waste (KFW) as the raw materials and SiC as the foaming agent, respectively. The chemical compositions and crystalline phases of the raw materials as well as the structural and mechanical properties of the foam ceramics were investigated. By adjusting the formulation and sintering process parameters, the porous structure of the foam ceramics could be effectively modulated. In addition to some residual crystalline phases in the raw materials, new phases, including rutile (TiO2) and anorthite (CaAl2Si2O8), were generated in foam ceramics. The compressive strength of the foam ceramics decreased with an increase in the KFW/RM ratio and sintering temperature, which was mainly related to the low density of the foam ceramics and the poor support of the pore walls to the structure. Among all the foam ceramics investigated, the foam ceramic with the KFW/RM ratio of 1:1, SiC content of 1 wt%, sintering temperature of 1100 °C and sintering time of 60 min showed the best overall performance with a bulk density, an apparent porosity, an average pore size and a compressive strength of 0.77 g/cm³, 61.89%, 0.52 mm, and 3.64 MPa, respectively. Its excellent porous structure and mechanical properties rendered it suitable for application as insulation materials or decorative materials for building partition walls.
Article
Acid recovering and iron recycling from pickling waste acid are the desired goal of the steel mills for current ecological requirements and economic benefit. This study proposed a novel method to treatment the pickling waste acid using extraction separation of ferric chloride and hydrochloric acid, following by the spray pyrolysis of ferric chloride stripping liquor. Comparing the Ruthner method, the significant technical advantages of this method is the lower treatment load and operating costs for the spray pyrolysis process, attributing to the reuse of most hydrochloric acid without iron powder neutralizing. Different extractants (TBP, CYC, IA, OA, and PA) are compared to extract ferric ion from high-concentration hydrochloric acid solution and the optimum conditions are researched. Spectroscopic analysis is performed to characterize iron state in extractants. For the stripped solution, spray pyrolysis is employed to produce high-purity Fe2O3 fine particles, meanwhile hydrochloric acid is recovered for following pickling procedure. The results showed that the effect of CYC under lower O/A ratio was better than that of TBP, and the opposite occurred at higher ratios. Three-stage extraction efficiency can reach over 80% at O/A = 2:1. The final O/A ratio of 1:1 was chosen for the stripping of iron-loaded extractants. Raman and UV–visible found that it was [FeCl4]⁻ anion that existed in Fe-loaded TBP and CYC. Spray pyrolysis at 1000 °C can obtain fine pure Fe2O3 and hydrochloric acid. Eventually, a feasible technological process was put forward to recycle all chemicals and achieve zero emission of water and solid waste in the whole process.