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Experimental Investigation on the Purification of Natural Flake Graphite with Auxiliary Alkali-Acid Method

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Abstract

As a non-metallic material, high-purity graphite has been widely used in many high-tech fields and has become an important raw material for its production and processing. As the purity of graphite increases, its application value will also increase. Therefore, it is necessary to purify graphite. In this study, the natural flake graphite is purified by the additive-assisted alkali melting-acid leaching process to produce high-purity graphite. Alkali melting is the main process in the alkali-acid process. Therefore, this paper is mainly to explore the removal mechanism of impurities in the alkali melting process. First, the influence of various factors on the purification efficiency in the process of alkali melting is investigated. The fixed carbon content of graphite can reach 99.9815% and 99.9569%, respectively, when 4% (accounting for graphite mass) of sodium metaborate and potassium pyrosulfate is added as additives under the best process conditions. The results show that the crystal structure and morphology of graphite have no obvious changes. Compared with the traditional alkaline melting-acid leaching process, the carbon content of natural flake graphite can be increased to a higher level by an auxiliary alkaline melting-acid leaching process.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Key Research and Development Project of Heilongjiang Province (GA22A101), the Key Program of Jixi Natural Science Foundation (JKZZ2022R02; JKZT2022R01), Research Project of Heilongjiang Transportation Investment Group Co., Ltd. (JT-100,000-ZC-FW-2022-0086), and Heilongjiang Postdoctoral Science Foundation funded project (LBH-Z23125).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Superlight Materials and Surface Technology of Ministry of Education, College of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, 150001, People’s Republic of China

    Huan Liu, Jinling Yin, Jing Zhao, Qing Wen, Jiaye Li, Zebin Wang & Guiling Wang

  2. Heilongjiang Hachuan Carbon Materials Technology Co., LTD, National Quality Supervision and Inspection Center of Graphite Products, No. 88 Kangxin Road, Jiguan District, Jixi City, Heilongjiang Province, 158100, People’s Republic of China

    Huan Liu, Jinling Yin, Jing Zhao, Qing Wen, Jiaye Li, Zebin Wang & Guiling Wang

  3. Heilongjiang Transportation Investment Group Co., LTD, No. 899, Innovation 3rd Road, Songbei District, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, 150025, People’s Republic of China

    Ze Li & Yang Lei

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  1. Huan Liu
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  2. Jinling Yin
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  3. Jing Zhao
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  4. Qing Wen
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  7. Ze Li
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Correspondence to Jinling Yin or Guiling Wang.

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Liu, H., Yin, J., Zhao, J. et al. Experimental Investigation on the Purification of Natural Flake Graphite with Auxiliary Alkali-Acid Method. JOM 76, 2586–2594 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-024-06493-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-024-06493-7

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