Study and Discussion on Preparation of Hemihydrate Gypsum by Salt Solution Method

This is an article in the field of mineral materials. The utilization of desulfurized gypsum (FGD) to prepare more widely used hemihydrate gypsum plays a very important role in the resource utilization of industrial by-product gypsum. It can not only avoid the large-scale exploitation of natural gypsum, but also realize the resource utilization of desulfurized gypsum. In the process of converting FGD gypsum into hemihydrate gypsum, appropriate concentration of additive and sodium chloride were used as the reaction solution, and the process was heated and stirred under normal pressure. The effects of sodium chloride concentration, additive concentration, solid-liquid ratio, rotation speed and reaction temperature on the phase conversion time and crystal size of dihydrate to hemihydrate gypsum were studied. The increase of additive and sodium chloride concentration not only sped up the phase conversion process but also had a certain inhibitory effect on the average length and average aspect ratio of hemihydrate gypsum crystals. Higher or lower rotation speed hindered the nucleation and growth of hemihydrate gypsum crystals and affected the collision frequency of Ca²⁺ and SO₄^2- in the NaCl added solution, thus delaying the formation of hemihydrate gypsum. Decreasing the solid-liquid ratio and increasing the temperature had a certain promoting effect on the phase conversion process. At a lower temperature, due to the insufficient driving force of the phase conversion process, it was difficult to transform FGD gypsum into hemihydrate gypsum. The optimal process conditions for preparing hemihydrate gypsum from FGD gypsum were determined as follows: sodium chloride concentration 10%, additive concentration 10%, solid-liquid ratio 1∶5, rotating speed 300 r/min, reaction temperature 100 ℃. Under the best process conditions, the reaction could be completed in 60 min. The average length of the prepared hemihydrate gypsum crystals was as high as 127 μm, and the average aspect ratio was as high as 19. At the same time, the relationship between the activity of water molecules in the solution, the degree of supersaturation and the reaction temperature was studied, and it was determined that the phase conversion process was determined by the temperature and the degree of supersaturation.