BASIC STUDIES FOR DISSOLUTION OF HYDROBORACITE IN WATER WITH DISOLVED CARBON DIOXIDE

MORALES, G.- QUIROGA,O.D.-CAPRETTO M.E. - MERCADO FUENTES, L.

HYDROMETALLURGY (AMSTERDAM)

Elsevier

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2006

0304-386X

Abstract There have been carried out kinetic studies of dissolution of hydroboracite in water with dissolved carbon dioxide. Hydroboracite mineral used in the experiments was provided from the resources in mines of Sijes, in Salta, Argentina. These experiments were carried out in an atmospheric-pressure discontinuous tank reactor. The effects of the temperature, particle size, solid/liquid ratio and stirring speed on the dissolution rate have been investigated. It was observed that the dissolution rate increased with increasing reaction temperature and decreasing particle size. It was also observed that the dissolution rate decreased as solid/liquid ratio increased. The stirring speed had no effect on dissolution rate. The need of working with concentrated solutions (significant solid/liquid ratio) and the low conversions accomplished as the system concentration was being increased, have also led us to doing experiments on calcinated hydroboracite. Some studies have been carried out on mass loss of the calcinated mineral at different temperatures. Kinetic models have been developed for the dissolution of original and calcinated hydroboracite in water with dissolved carbon dioxide.   Keywords:  Hydroboracite; Dissolution kinetics; Mineral dissolution