Analysis of particles size distributions in Mg(OH)2 precipitation from highly concentrated MgCl2 solutions
Giuseppe Battaglia, Salvatore Romano, Antonello Raponi, Daniele Marchisio, Michele Ciofalo, Alessandro Tamburini, Andrea Cipollina, Giorgio Micale
Abstract
Magnesium is a raw material of great importance, which attracted increasing interest in the last years. A promising route is to recover magnesium in the form of Magnesium Hydroxide via precipitation from highly concentrated Mg2+ resources, e.g. industrial or natural brines and bitterns. Several production methods and characterization procedures have been presented in the literature reporting a broad variety of Mg(OH)2 particle sizes. In the present work, a detailed experimental investigation is aiming to shed light on the characteristics of produced Mg(OH)2 particles and their dependence upon the reacting conditions. To this purpose, two T-shaped mixers were employed to tune and control the degree of homogenization of reactants. Particles were analysed by laser static light scattering with and without an anti-agglomerant treatment based on ultrasounds and addition of a dispersant. Zeta potential measurements were also carried out to further assess Mg(OH)2 suspension stability.