In
this paper, a closed-loop multistep process which allows leaching
and precipitation of magnesium and calcium as carbonate from Victorian
brown coal fly ash has been examined. Victorian brown coal fly ash
has a distinctively high concentration of alkaline earth metals and
low amounts of aluminum and silica. The main objective here is to
clarify the dissolution kinetics of magnesium and calcium in regenerative
ammonium chloride and subsequent carbonation of dissolved cations.
Instead of a once-through test with fresh ammonium chloride, multiple
locked circuits were adopted to assess the leaching capability of
regenerated ammonium salt, as well as the accumulation of impurities
upon the recycling and reuse of the leaching agent. As has been revealed,
upon increasing cycles of ammonium chloride use, the extraction yields
of both target cations decreased significantly. Their extraction by
ammonium chloride was favored by the presence of the oxide form in
the original ash sample, with the extraction of calcium occurring
much faster than that of magnesium. Both phenomena were in agreement
with the thermodynamic equilibrium prediction on the lowest Gibbs
function for the dissolution of oxides, especially calcium oxide in
ammonium chloride solution. Carbonation results dropped gradually
upon the increase in the cycle number; meanwhile, the size and morphology
of precipitates were changed from the first to last cycle. By fitting
the observed results with a shrinking core model, it was shown that
the extraction of Mg2+ followed a pseudo-second-order reaction
with a nonconstant ammonium chloride concentration in the film layer
on the surface of a solid particle. The activation energy of 20.7
kJ mol–1 was obtained for the dissolution of magnesium
from both Hazelwood fly ash and pure MgO in ammonium chloride solution.