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The Alkaline Leaching Behavior of Silica Solid Solutions in the Product Obtained by Roasting the Mixture of High-Alumina Coal Gangue and Hematite

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Abstract

A novel technology of hematite involved roasting-alkaline leaching-Bayer digestion process was proposed to extract alumina from high-alumina coal gangue (HACG), however the resource utilization of silica was not yet resolved. In this work, the alkaline leaching behavior of silica solid solutions in the product obtained by roasting the mixture of HACG and hematite was systematically studied in sodium hydroxide solution and sodium silicate solution, meanwhile the phase transformation was investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electronic microscope (SEM), and energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS). The results show that kaolinite, which is the main mineral in HACG, was converted into silica solid solutions (i.e., quartz solid solution and cristobalite solid solution) and alumina (i.e., θ-Al2O3 and α-Al2O3) through reductively roasting with hematite followed by oxidation during cooling process. Elevated oxidation temperature promotes the conversion of θ-Al2O3 into α-Al2O3. The silica solid solutions were readily soluble in sodium hydroxide solution and sodium silicate solution while α-Al2O3 was stable, hence, efficient separation of silica and alumina. Through leaching in sodium silicate solution with a modulus of ~ 1.0 followed by sodium hydroxide solution, a sodium silicate solution with a modulus of ~ 2.5 was obtained together with an alumina concentrate with a mass ratio of alumina to silica of > 18.0. The alumina concentrate is a decent raw material for alumina extraction by Bayer digestion, and the sodium silicate solution with a modulus of ~ 2.5 can be used in the chemical industry.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 52004194) and the Postdoctoral Research Foundation of China (Grant No. 2019M662733).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, Hunan, China

    Xiao-bin Li, Peng Wang, Hong-yang Wang, Qiu-sheng Zhou, Tian-gui Qi, Gui-hua Liu, Zhi-hong Peng, Yi-lin Wang & Lei-ting Shen

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Anhui University of Science and Technology, Huainan, 232001, Anhui, China

    Hong-yang Wang

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  1. Xiao-bin Li
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  2. Peng Wang
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Correspondence to Hong-yang Wang or Yi-lin Wang.

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The contributing editor for this article was Atsushi Shibayama.

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Li, Xb., Wang, P., Wang, Hy. et al. The Alkaline Leaching Behavior of Silica Solid Solutions in the Product Obtained by Roasting the Mixture of High-Alumina Coal Gangue and Hematite. J. Sustain. Metall. 8, 1853–1865 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40831-022-00615-8

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