Synthesis of magnesium aluminate spinel powder from the purified sodium hydroxide leaching solution of black dross

Abstract

Synthesis of magnesium aluminate spinel (MgAl2O4) was investigated by employing ball milling and co-precipitation methods. The starting materials (aluminum hydroxides) were obtained from the purified sodium hydroxide leaching solution of black dross. The characteristics of the synthesized spinel was analyzed through X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. In this work, the effect of calcination temperature and time on the formation of spinel by the two methods was compared. Calcination temperature showed a great effect on the formation of spinel in both methods. The results showed that the co-precipitation method has many advantages over the ball milling method. In ball milling method, complete conversion of the starting materials to spinel was impossible even at 1500 °C, while complete conversion to spinel was accomplished at 1000 °C for 5 h by the co-precipitation method. The average size of the spinel synthesized at these optimum conditions of the co-precipitation method was about 17 nm. A process can be developed to synthesize spinel from the black dross which is regarded as hazardous materials.