Amorphous Silica Production from Serpentine and its Techno-Economic Analysis

Abstract

The production of silica from the reaction of serpentine mineral with sulfuric acid has been investigated. Silica production process was developed by using optimum parameters of 67.3 °C temperature, 4.8 M acid concentration and 57.1 min. reaction time. Techno-economic analysis of the silica production process was made using a SuperPro Designer software (Version 9.0). Simulation has been performed for different annual plant capacities between 4,000 t and 16,000 t. The optimum production cost of silica was obtained for an annual plant capacity of 12,000 t. The total capital investment and operating costs for silica production facility designed was calculated as US$40,247.000 and US$4.24/kg, respectively. The payback period of the facility investment was determined as 4.8 years. The tailing waste of chrome ore could be used as raw material to produce silica and magnesium sulfate in an economic way.

Keywords

• Amorphous Silica
• Serpentine
• Optimization
• SuperPro Designer
• Techno- Economic Analysis

References

1. Ballhorn, R. and Franke, W., (1996), EP0791559A1. European Patent Office, Frankfurt, DE.
2. Carmignano, O. R. D., Vieira, S. S., Brandão, P. R. G., Bertoli, A. C., & Lago, R. M. (2020), Serpentinites: Mineral structure, properties and technological applications. Journal of the Brazilian Chemical Society, 31, 2-14.
3. Chen, Y., Yang, X., Wu, L., Tong, L., & Zhu, J. (2023). Recovery of Mg from H2SO4 Leaching Solution of Serpentine to Precipitation of High-Purity Mg(OH)2 and 4MgCO3·Mg(OH)2·4H2O. Minerals, 13(3), 318
4. Çakan, Y. (2022), Serpantin mineralinden amorf silica üretimi ve proses şartlarının optimizasyonu. (Publication No: 765850) (Master’s dissertation, Süleyman Demirel University)
5. Çakan, Y., & Gönen, M. (2022), Serpantin Mineralinden Amorf Silika Üretimi ve Proses Şartlarının Optimizasyonu. Yekarum, 7(2), 33-47.
6. Çevik, E. (2006), Topuk Köyü Ve Civarındaki (Orhaneli, Bursa) Dünitlerin Mineralojik Ve Jeokimyasal Özellikleri Ve Olivin Açısından Endüstriyel Kullanımının Değerlendirilmesi (Doctoral dissertation, İstanbul Technical University, Fen Bilimleri Enstitüsü), İstanbul.
7. Çiftçi, H., Arslan, B., Bilen, A., Arsoy, Z., & Ersoy, B. (2021). Optimization of leaching conditions for extraction of magnesium from a chromite beneficiation plant tailing predominantly containing lizardite. Bulletin of the Mineral Research and Exploration, 164(164), 251-259.
8. Fedoročková, A., Plešingerová, B., Sučik, G., Raschman, P., & Doráková, A. (2014), Characteristics of amorphous silica prepared from serpentinite using various acidifying agents. International Journal of Mineral Processing, 130, 42-47.

9. Flörke, O.W., Graetsch, H., Brunk, F., Benda, L., Paschen, S., Bergna, H.E., Roberts, W.O., Welsh, W.A., Chapman, D.M., Ettlinger, M., Kerner, D., Maier, M., Meon, W., Schmoll, R., Gies, H. Schiffmann, D. (2000). Silica. In Ullmann's Encyclopedia of Industrial Chemistry, (Ed.).https://doi.org/10.1002/14356007.a23_583
10. Global Analysis Report, Precipitated Silica Market Size, Trends, Analysis 2023-2031 (transparencymarketresearch.com), Access date: February 05, 2024
11. Gönen, M., Rodene, D. D., Panda, S., & Akcil, A. (2022), Techno-economic analysis of boric acid production from colemanite mineral and sulfuric acid. Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy Review, 43(3), 402-410.
12. Iler, R.K. (1979) The Chemistry of Silica: Solubility, Polymerization, Colloid and Surface Properties, and Biochemistry. John Wiley and Sons Ltd., New York.
13. Lazaro, A., Brouwers, H. J. H., Quercia, G., & Geus, J. W. (2012). The properties of amorphous nano-silica synthesized by the dissolution of olivine. Chemical Engineering Journal, 211, 112-121.
14. Lazaro, A., Chen, Y. X., Verhoeven, C., & Hendrix, Y. (2019). One-step synthesis of ordered mesoporous silica from olivine and its pore size tailoring. Journal of Cleaner Production, 238, 117951.
15. Norton, L. D. (1993). Micromorphology of silica cementation in soils. In Developments in Soil Science (Vol. 22, pp. 811-824). Elsevier.
16. Pietriková, A., Búgel, M., & Golja, M. (2004). Preparation of SiO2 powder through leaching of serpentine. Metalurgija, 43(4), 299-304.
17. Peters, M. S., Timmerhaus, K. D., & West, R. E. (1991). Cost estimation. Plant design and economics for chemical engineers, 150-215.
18. Raza, N., Raza, W., Madeddu, S., Agbe, H., Kumar, R. V., & Kim, K. H. (2018). Synthesis and characterization of amorphous precipitated silica from alkaline dissolution of olivine. RSC advances, 8(57), 32651-32658.
19. Top, S., & Yıldırım, M. (2017). Preparation of synthetic carnallite and amorphous silica from chromite beneficiation plant tailings. Gospodarka Surowcami Mineralnymi, 33.
20. Turton, R., R. C. Bailie, W. B. Whiting, J. A. Shaeiwitz. (2009). Analysis, synthesis and design of chemical processes. Boston, MA: Pearson Education Inc.
21. Zhou, S., Wei, Y., Li, B., Ma, B., Wang, C., & Wang, H. (2017). Kinetics study on the dehydroxylation and phase transformation of Mg3Si2O5(OH)4. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, 713, 180-186.