Separation of silicate from mixture of sodium zirconate and sodium silicate by leaching process using water

Abstract

Separation of silicate from mixture of sodium zirconate and sodium silicate by leaching proces using water has been studied. This research aims are to determine the optimum conditions for temperature and contact time on the leached silicate content from mixture of sodium zirconate and sodium silicate, the reaction rate controller, the reaction rate constant (k) and the value of activation energy (Ea) based on shrinking core models. This experiment performed by leaching of a mix between sodium zirconate and sodium silicate by water with the various temperature of 55, 75 and 95 °C and various contact time of 15 minutes to 75 minutes. The resulted of silicate leached was analyzed by Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS). The maximum amount of silicate leached from mixture of sodium zirconate and sodium silicate which was carried out at weight ratio of feed to solvent volum of 1: 40 and a stirring speed of 220 rpm was 38% at temperature of 95 °C and the contact time of 60 minutes. The leaching kinetics is controlled by chemical reaction with empirical equation is 1-(1-X)1/3 = k1t and the activation energy (Ea) is 45.098 kJ/Mol.