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Cheng H, Hua Z, Zhu Y, Wang T, Li Z, Lu Y, Tian Z, Lu W. Properties and composition of the spent electrolyte for premium circulation mediated by Al-air batteries. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2023; 25:14038-14045. [PMID: 37161661 DOI: 10.1039/d3cp00928a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/11/2023]
Abstract
Al-air batteries can serve as a bridge for high-quality cyclic utilization of aluminum resources. However, limited insights into the spent electrolyte are challenging to accurately adjust the recovery process to obtain premium Al-containing products. Herein, the properties and composition of the spent electrolyte were explored through experiments and theoretical calculations. The results demonstrate that the viscosity of the spent electrolyte increased with the rise in discharge current density, time and temperature under highly alkaline conditions, while the ionic conductivity and causticity obviously decreased. Al(OH)4- was the prime and balanced aluminate species when the battery was discharged at 25 °C and coexisted with a bit of [Al2O(OH)6]2-, [Al2O2(OH)6]4- and Al(OH)63- ions. Especially, the characteristics of the spent electrolyte were mainly dominated by the discharge time and temperature when the current density was continuously increased. There was only Al(OH)4- in the electrolyte at a higher discharge temperature. The DFT results also reveal that the polynuclear aluminate ions were produced by the interaction between the mononuclear aluminate ion Al(OH)4- and OH-. This work manifests a profound insight into the spent electrolyte from Al-air batteries for the efficient recycling of aluminum resources.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hao Cheng
- School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, Changsha 410083, P. R. China.
| | - Zhifan Hua
- School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, Changsha 410083, P. R. China.
| | - Yuan Zhu
- School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, Changsha 410083, P. R. China.
| | - Tao Wang
- School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, Changsha 410083, P. R. China.
| | - Zheng Li
- School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, Changsha 410083, P. R. China.
| | - Yao Lu
- School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, Changsha 410083, P. R. China.
| | - Zhongliang Tian
- School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, Changsha 410083, P. R. China.
| | - Wenyi Lu
- Binzhou Institute of Technology, Weiqiao-UCAS Science and Technology Park, Binzhou 256606, P. R. China.
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Dembowski M, Loring JS, Bowden ME, Reynolds JG, Graham TR, Rosso KM, Pearce CI. The controlling role of atmosphere in dawsonite versus gibbsite precipitation from tetrahedral aluminate species. Dalton Trans 2021; 50:13438-13446. [PMID: 34477710 DOI: 10.1039/d1dt02081a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
In highly alkaline solution, aluminum speciates as the tetrahedrally coordinated aluminate monomer, Al(OH)4- and/or dimer Al2O(OH)62-, yet precipitates as octahedrally coordinated gibbsite (Al(OH)3). This tetrahedral to octahedral transformation governs Al precipitation, which is crucial to worldwide aluminum (Al) production, and to the retrieval and processing of Al-containing caustic high-level radioactive wastes. Despite its significance, the transformation pathway remains unknown. Here we explore the roles of atmospheric water and carbon dioxide in mediating the transformation of the tetrahedrally coordinated potassium aluminate dimer salt (K2Al2O(OH)6) to gibbsite versus potassium dawsonite (KAl(CO3)(OH)2). A combination of in situ attenuated total reflection infrared spectroscopy, ex situ micro X-ray diffraction, and multivariate curve resolution-alternating least squares chemometrics analysis reveals that humidity plays a key role in the transformation by limiting the amount of alkalinity neutralization by dissolved CO2. Lower humidity favors higher alkalinity and incorporation of carbonate species in the final Al product to form KAl(CO3)(OH)2. Higher humidity enables more acid generation that destabilizes dawsonite and favors gibbsite as the solubility limiting phase. This indicates that the transition from tetra- to octahedrally coordinated Al does not have to occur in bulk solution, as has often been hypothesized, but may instead occur in thin water films present on mineral surfaces in humid environments. Our findings suggest that phase selection can be controlled by humidity, which could enable new pathways to Al transformations useful to the Al processing industry, as well as improved understanding of phases that appear in caustic Al-bearing solutions exposed to atmospheric conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mateusz Dembowski
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
| | - John S Loring
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
| | - Mark E Bowden
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
| | - Jacob G Reynolds
- Washington River Protection Solutions, LLC, Richland, Washington 93352, USA
| | - Trent R Graham
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
| | - Kevin M Rosso
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
| | - Carolyn I Pearce
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99352, USA. .,Washington State University, Pullman, WA, 99164, USA
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Abstract
Carbonation in cement binders has to be thoroughly understood because it affects phase assemblage, binder microstructure and durability performance of concretes. This is still not the case as the reaction products can be crystalline, nanocrystalline and amorphous. The characterisation of the last two types of components are quite challenging. Here, carbonation reactions have been studied in alite-, belite- and ye’elimite-containing pastes, in controlled conditions (3% CO2 and RH = 65%). Pair distribution function (PDF) jointly with Rietveld and thermal analyses have been applied to prove that ettringite decomposed to yield crystalline aragonite, bassanite and nano-gibbsite without any formation of amorphous calcium carbonate. The particle size of gibbsite under these conditions was found to be larger (~5 nm) than that coming from the direct hydration of ye’elimite with anhydrite (~3 nm). Moreover, the carbonation of mixtures of C-S-H gel and portlandite, from alite and belite hydration, led to the formation of the three crystalline CaCO3 polymorphs (calcite, aragonite and vaterite), amorphous silica gel and amorphous calcium carbonate. In addition to their PDF profiles, the thermal analyses traces are thoroughly analysed and discussed.
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Yang Z, Cai W. Surfactant-free preparation of mesoporous solid/hollow boehmite and bayerite microspheres via double hydrolysis of NaAlO 2 and formamide from room temperature to 180 °C. J Colloid Interface Sci 2020; 564:182-192. [PMID: 31911223 DOI: 10.1016/j.jcis.2019.12.110] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2019] [Revised: 12/22/2019] [Accepted: 12/25/2019] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Abstract
The transformation from solid boehmite microspheres to hollow bayerite microspheres at room temperature (25 °C) was successfully realized via the double hydrolysis of NaAlO2 and formamide (FA) solution. Effects of reaction time, temperature and FA dos on the transformation process were studied in detail. The results show that hollow boehmite microspheres were obtained via increasing the temperature above 120 °C and the FA dos above 12 mL; amorphous alumina hydrate, solid boehmite and hollow bayerite microspheres were also obtained at 25 °C for 1 h, 2 h and 24 h reactions, respectively; solid bayerite microspheres were obtained by decreasing the FA dos below 4 mL at 25 °C. Because of the slow change of pH from 12.9 to 8.7, simultaneous dissolution and regeneration for different aluminum hydroxide were the key factors for forming hollow boehmite/bayerite microspheres. The Al yield for boehmite microspheres reached 41.4% at 25 °C for a 2 h reaction; when increasing the temperature to 180 °C, the Al yield for hollow boehmite microspheres with higher crystallinity increased to 82.7%. Moreover, the solid/hollow boehmite microspheres with high surface areas showed outstanding adsorption capacities of 751.9 mg/g and 694.4 mg/g, respectively, for Congo red. This significant transformation of structure and morphology provides an effective strategy for preparing mono-phase hydrated alumina with excellent adsorption performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhichao Yang
- School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Life Sciences, Wuhan University of Technology, 205 Luoshi Road, Wuhan 430070, China; School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangzhou University, 230 Wai Huan Xi Road, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou, 510006, China
| | - Weiquan Cai
- School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Life Sciences, Wuhan University of Technology, 205 Luoshi Road, Wuhan 430070, China; School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Guangzhou University, 230 Wai Huan Xi Road, Guangzhou Higher Education Mega Center, Guangzhou, 510006, China.
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Yang Z, Cai W, Zhou J, Xia Q, Wang T. Fast, Large-Scale, and Stable Preparation of η-Al2O3 Microspheres by Fully Utilizing N,N-Dimethylformamide at Room Temperature. Ind Eng Chem Res 2020. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.iecr.9b05407] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Zhichao Yang
- School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Guangzhou University, 230 Guangzhou University City Outer Ring Road, Guangzhou 510006, P. R. China
- School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering & Life Sciences, Wuhan University of Technology, 205 Luoshi Road, Wuhan 430070, P. R. China
| | - Weiquan Cai
- School of Chemistry & Chemical Engineering, Guangzhou University, 230 Guangzhou University City Outer Ring Road, Guangzhou 510006, P. R. China
- School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering & Life Sciences, Wuhan University of Technology, 205 Luoshi Road, Wuhan 430070, P. R. China
| | - Jinpeng Zhou
- School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering & Life Sciences, Wuhan University of Technology, 205 Luoshi Road, Wuhan 430070, P. R. China
| | - Qing Xia
- School of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering & Life Sciences, Wuhan University of Technology, 205 Luoshi Road, Wuhan 430070, P. R. China
| | - Tielin Wang
- School of Chemical Engineering & Pharmacy, Wuhan Institute of Technology, 206, Guanggu 1st Road, Donghu New & High Technology Development Zone, Wuhan 430205, P. R. China
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