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Title: Separation of flue-gas scrubber sludge into marketable products. Third quarterly technical progress report, June 1, 1994--August 31, 1994

Technical Report ·
OSTI ID:10192796

This project is studying the characteristics of flue-gas scrubber sludges from several sources. This will facilitate the development of purification technologies which will make it possible to directly utilize scrubber sludges rather than landfilling them This purification will consist of minimal-reagent froth flotation, using the surface properties of the particles of unreacted limestone to remove them and their associated impurities from the material, leaving a purified calcium sulfite/gypsum product. The objectives of this project are to: Investigate properties of scrubber sludge that will control its behavior in separation processes, and determine how the surface properties of the sludge particles change as the conditions in solution change; examine the ability of various froth-flotation processes to separate the various components based on differences in their surface chemistry; and determine methods for accomplishing the separation without adding additional chemical hazards to the environment. During the fourth quarter, studies of the Zeta potentials of the individual sludge components were continued. These measurements are initially being made on chemically pure calcium sulfite, calcium carbonate, and gypsum, to establish a baseline for comparison for the actual sludge samples. These measurements are being used to determine the solution conditions that produce the greatest differences in the surface properties of the various types of particles in the sludge, and which will therefore produce the sharpest possible flotation separation. The details of these studies are presented in the following sections.

Research Organization:
Michigan Technological Univ., Houghton, MI (United States). Dept. of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
FG22-93PC93214
OSTI ID:
10192796
Report Number(s):
DOE/PC/93214-T4; ON: DE95002427; BR: AA1525050
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: Sep 1994
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English