Synergetic effect of secondary nucleation and growth on the lithium carbonate particle size in the gas-liquid reactive crystallization of LiCl-NH3·H2O-CO2

In this study,the gas-liquid reactive crystallization of LiCl-NH3·H2O-CO2 was adopted to produce Li2CO3.The weakly alkaline nature of NH3·H2O in the absence of any recarbonation process resulted in a unimodal and easily controllable particle size distribution(PSD)of the obtained Li2CO3.The reaction temperature significantly influenced both the Li2CO3 particle size and PSD.By increasing the temperature from 25 to 60℃,the volume weighted mean particle size increased from 50.5 to 100.5μm,respectively.The Li2CO3 secondary nucleation rate and growth rate were obtained by focused beam reflectance measurements and a laser particle size analyzer,respectively.The secondary nucleation rate of Li2CO3 reduced as a function of temperature,whereas the growth rate increased.In addition to improving the surface energy of the crystals to enhance the growth process,higher temperatures also reduced the supersolubility of Li2CO3,which also plays a role to decrease the secondary nucleation rate.At a constant temperature,supersaturation affects the Li2CO3 particle size through the synergistic effect of secondary nucleation and growth.Hence,with improved supersaturation,the mean particle size of Li2CO3 decreased.The results provide a meaningful way to evaluate the crystallization process and to regulate the particle size.

Simulation of secondary nucleation of polymer crystallization via a model of microscopic kinetics

We present simulations of the mechanism of secondary nucleation of polymer crystallization,based on a new model accounting for the microscopic kinetics of attaching and detaching.As the key feature of the model,we introduced multibody-interaction parameters that establish correlations between the attaching and detaching rate constants and the resulting thickness and width of the crystalline lamella.Using MATLAB and Monte Carlo method,we followed the evolution of the secondary nuclei as a function of various multibody-interaction parameters.We identified three different growth progressions of the crystal：（i） Widening,（ii） thickening and（iii） simultaneously thickening and widening of lamellar crystals,controlled by the corresponding kinetic parameters.

Crystallization of gibbsite from synthetic chromate leaching solution in sub-molten salt process

For the clean and economical production of chromium compounds, it is crucial to remove aluminates from chromate alkali solutions and utilize aluminum-containing compounds. In this work, carbonization was used to remove aluminates from a synthetic chromate leaching solution containing a high K2O/Al2O3 mole ratio. The influence of reaction temperature, carbonization time, flow rate of carbon dioxide, and seed ratio on the precipitation of Al was investigated. The optimal output was obtained under the following experimental conditions： a reaction temperature of 50 °C, a carbonization time of 100 min, a carbon dioxide flow rate of 0.1 L/min, and a seed ratio of 1.0. Gibbsite was obtained following carbonization. The structure and morphology of the gibbsite were characterized by X-ray diffraction （XRD）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, and laser particle size analyzer. The particle size distribution and morphology of the gibbsite were significantly influenced by the experimental conditions. The gibbsite had a mean particle size （d50） of 16.72μm. The thermal decomposition of the gibbsite was analyzed by XRD and the decomposition path was determined. The obtained coarseα-Al2O3 precipitate, which contains 0.08% Cr2O3 and 0.10% K2O, was suitable for subsequent utilization.

The dual action of N_(2)on morphology regulation and mass-transfer acceleration of CO_(2)hydrate film

The morphology characteristics of CH_(4),CO_(2),and CO_(2)+N_(2)hydrate film forming on the suspending gas bubbles are studied using microscopic visual method at supercooling conditions from 1.0 to 3.0 K.The hydrate film vertical growth rate and thickness along the planar gas-water interface are measured to study the hydrate formation kinetics and mass transfer process.Adding N_(2)in the gas mixture plays the same role as lowering the supercooling conditions,both retarding the crystal nucleation and growth rates,which results in larger single crystal size and rough hydrate morphology.N_(2)in the gas mixture helps to delay the secondary nucleation on the hydrate film,which is beneficial to maintain the porethroat structure and enhance the mass transfer.The vertical growth rate of hydrate film mainly depends on the supercooling conditions and gas compositions but has weak dependence on the experimental temperature and pressure.Under the same gas composition condition,the final film thickness shows a linear relationship with the supercooling conditions.The mass transfer coefficient of CH_(4)molecules in hydrates ranges from 4.54×10^(-8)to 7.54×10^(-8)mol·cm^(-2)·s^(-1)·MPa^(-1).The maximum mass transfer coefficient for CO_(2)t N_(2)hydrate occurs at the composition of 60%CO_(2)t 40%N_(2),which is 3.98×10^(-8)mol·cm^(-2)·s^(-1)·MPa^(-1).