An effective utilization of the slag from acid leaching of coal-waste: Preparation of water glass with a low-temperature co-melting reaction

This paper presents an effective utilization of slag from acid leaching of coal-waste with a novel approach, namely low-temperature co-melting method, for preparation of sodium silicate (Na₂O·nSiO₂) using slag from acid leaching of coal-waste as feedstock. It is very interesting that the co-melting reaction temperature of the mixture of Na₂CO₃ and the feedstock (50?100 μm) was as low as 850 °C, which was significantly lower than the temperature used in traditional sodium silicate production (1400 °C). The optimum SiO₂/Na₂O ratio was identified as 7:3 according to the results of thermogravimetry–differential scanning calorimetry (TGA-DSC), ICP-AES, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analyses. In this condition, the main product was sodium disilicate (Na₂O·2SiO₂), with water solubility of 85.0%. More importantly, the impurities such as aluminum in the feedstock, which had adverse effect on subsequent treatment, were concentrated almost completely in the filter residue as insoluble sodium alumunosilicates, i.e., Na(Si₂Al)O₆·H₂O. The lower co-melting temperature of this process demonstrates a significant energy-saving opportunity and thus a promising approach for highly effective utilization of coal-waste.

Implications:Recently, alumina extraction from coal-waste has been extensively investigated and industrial applied in China. However, the slag-containing silica generated from the acid leaching process of coal-waste led to a secondary pollution, which hindered large-scale production. The proposed low-temperature co-melting method for preparation of sodium silicate (Na₂O·nSiO₂) using slag from acid leaching of coal-waste as feedstock indicated that it is an efficient approach for the recovery of silica from the acid-leached slag of coal-waste with minimal environmental impact.