The continuous depletion of minerals caused by land mining
and
the increase in their demand
have pushed the development of novel sustainable technological processes
for mineral recovery from unconventional sources. In this context,
magnesium (Mg) has gained considerable attention for its peculiar
properties and high relevance of its compounds, such as magnesium
hydroxide, Mg(OH)2. In the present work, the influence
of several operating conditions on the Mg(OH)2 precipitation
process was thoroughly investigated by adopting a novel multiple feed-plug
flow reactor. The influence of (i) initial Mg2+ concentrations
in the feed stream; (ii) brine and alkaline flow rates; and (iii)
the product recycling strategy (seeded crystallization) was considered.
The results marked the possibility of improving sedimentation and
filterability properties of Mg(OH)2 suspensions by adopting
the recycling strategy to overcome industrial issues associated with
the production of Mg(OH)2 suspensions using NaOH solutions.
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