Industrial production of anhydrous borax is via fusion
of borax deca- or pentahydrate at 800−1000 °C. The glassy melt obtained thus is then cooled to
solidify, crushed, ground, and then
sieved to be classified according to its particle size and
distribution. Since molten borax is highly
corrosive to refractories and steel, among all these operations, the
melting of borax is the most
critical and the most costly. Our study gives way to production of
commercial quality anhydrous
and crystalline borax by eliminating melting and other above-mentioned
operations. For this
purpose, borax pentahydrate is dehydrated in a fluidized bed with
gradually increasing the bed
temperature up to 550 °C. During this process, as the bed
temperature is increased gradually,
particular attention is paid to keep the dehydration rate below a
certain value to secure the
bulk density of the product at levels greater than 0.3
g/cm3.
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