Recovery and utilization of gypsum and limestone from scrubber sludge. Technical report, December 1, 1992--February 28, 1993
- Michigan Technological Univ., Houghton, MI (United States). Dept. of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering
- Illinois Clean Coal Inst., Carterville, IL (United States)
Wet flue-gas desulfurization units in coal-fired power plants produce a large amount of sludge which must be disposed of, and which is currently landfilled in most cases. Increasing landfill costs are gradually forcing utilities to find other alternatives. In principle, this sludge can be used to make gypsum (CaSO{sub 4}-2H{sub 2}O) for products such as plaster-of-Paris and wallboard, but only if impurities such as unreacted limestone and soluble salts are removed, and the calcium sulfite (CaSO{sub 3}) is oxidized to calcium sulfate (CaSO{sub 4}). This project is investigating methods for removing the impurities from the sludge so that high-quality, salable gypsum products can be made. Work done in the previous quarter concentrated on developing a dependable technique for analysis of scrubber sludge, so that it would be possible to determine exactly how well a particular purification process was working. This technique was then used to characterize the sludge from a particular Illinois power station. In the current quarter, studies were carried out using froth flotation to produce a product that could be oxidized to high-purity gypsum. These experiments have been quite successful, due to certain properties of the limestone impurity that makes it easier to remove by this method than was expected.
- Research Organization:
- Illinois Dept. of Energy and Natural Resources, Springfield, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FC22-92PC92521
- OSTI ID:
- 10151497
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/PC/92521-T3; ON: DE93013621
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 1993
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Recovery and utilization of gypsum and limestone from scrubber sludge. Final technical report, September 1, 1992--August 31, 1993
Separation of flue-gas scrubber sludge into marketable products. Second quarterly technical progress report, December 1, 1993--February 28, 1994 (Quarter No. 2)
Related Subjects
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
FOSSIL-FUEL POWER PLANTS
SCRUBBERS
SLUDGES
WASTE PRODUCT UTILIZATION
FLOTATION
GYPSUM
MATERIALS RECOVERY
CYCLONE SEPARATORS
SANITARY LANDFILLS
SULFITES
OXIDATION
LIMESTONE
REMOVAL
010800
320305
WASTE MANAGEMENT
INDUSTRIAL WASTE MANAGEMENT