The solubilityof phosphogypsum and recovery ofheavy and radioactive elements

الملخص EN

The essential purpose of this paper is to illustrate and inspect the leaching characteristics of Iraqi Phosphogypsum (PG).

The paper presents the results of the dissolution characteristics of heavy and radioactive elements from PG, which is a by-product result from the industry of phosphate fertilizers.

Leachability of heavy and radioactive elements in deionized water that has been inspected under various states of leaching, including solid/liquid ratio (10, 20 and 50 /1g/L) and temperatures (25, 45 and 85 °C), with constant other parameters such as string speed (300 rpm) and contact time (60 minutes).

For the most analysis elements, the progressive release of the metals, in addition to the major elements reflects high mobility.

The mobility of trace metals in PG has been generally classified into three main degrees: (1) high mobility elements such as Pb, Zn, Mn, and Cr; (2) moderate mobility elements such as Sr, V, Ba,Y,Hg, K and Ni; and (3)l ow mobility elements like Ca,Cu,Fe, and Ag.

The maximum concentrations of the most of the metals were attained from a leaching state of 10/1g/L.

Regarding temperature, the experimental results revealed that the PG solubility to leaching out elements increases noticeably as the applied temperature ranges from 25 to 45 °C; after this degree, the leaching efficiency decreases.

Chloride had a positive and negative effect on the solubility of phosphorus.

Calcium chloride had an adverse effect on solubility and observed reduced solubility with increased chloride.

While the positive effect of sodium and magnesium chloride was observed, the solubility ratio increased with the increase of chlorides.

However, the effect of magnesium chloride was higher compared to the sodium chloride one.