The use of heat from the incineration of municipal solid waste for processing of phosphogypsum

Abstract

Municipal landfills and open dumps with industrial waste are global issues which impact on the environment and on the health of popula-tions. The production of phosphoric acid from natural phosphate rock gives rise to an industrial by-product called phosphogypsum, con-taining mainly dihydrated gypsum. Five tons of phosphogypsum are generated per ton of phosphoric acid production. The technology of roasting of phosphogypsum in a dehydrator, which is a mine, has been described in the article. Such reprocessing of the waste makes it possible to obtain a ready-made high-quality building material. The development of a complex that processes wet and highly adhesive phosphogypsum using the heat of combustion of alternative fuel (municipal waste) is consistent with the synergetic concept of environ-mentally efficient utilization. Experimental studies identify the most rational parameters of the dehydrator, namely, its operating tempera-ture, have been conducted. The temperature of a heat carrier (air) varied from 175 °C to 350 °C in the experiment.