Investigation of the use of sludge cake from Mg-based FGD process for the eco-friendly Mg metal production process
摘要
This study investigated the use of sludge cake from a magnesium (Mg)-based flue gas desulfurization (FGD) process as a feedstock for green Mg metal production. In the experiments, water leaching of the sludge cake at 298 K under 5 – 30% pulp density for 0.5 – 3 h, followed by the precipitation of the leachate obtained after leaching at pH 9 – 11 was conducted. Experimental results showed that an Mg leaching efficiency was higher than 98.2%, and an Mg recovery efficiency through precipitation was 94.7 – 99.9% under certain conditions. Consequently, 98.6 – 99.1% purity magnesium oxide (MgO) was produced after calcination of the precipitate at 973 K. The recovered MgO was electrolyzed in magnesium fluoride (MgF2) – lithium fluoride (LiF) molten salt using copper (Cu) cathode and graphite (C) anode at 1083 – 1163 K with a cathodic current density of 0.219 A·cm−2 for 9.5 h. After electrolysis, 13.1 mass% Mg – Cu alloy of MgCu2 and Cu (Mg) phases was produced with an average cell voltage and current efficiency of 2.46 V and 85.7%, respectively, under certain conditions. Therefore, this study demonstrated the feasibility of green Mg metal production from the sludge cake from the Mg-based FGD process.