Study on the Properties of Waste Apatite Phosphogypsum as a Raw Material of Prospective Applications

• Published in: Waste and biomass valorization Vol. 10; no. 10; pp. 3143 - 3155
• Main Authors: Grabas, Kazimierz, Pawełczyk, Adam, Stręk, Wiesław, Szełęg, Eligiusz, Stręk, Sven
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.10.2019; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Apatite; Atomic absorption analysis; Atomic absorption spectroscopy; Building materials; Chemical industry; Construction; Construction materials; Contamination; Differential thermal analysis; Differential thermogravimetric analysis; Economic conditions; Engineering; Environment; Environmental Engineering/Biotechnology; Inductively coupled plasma; Industrial Pollution Prevention; Organic chemistry; Original Paper; Phosphogypsum; Physical properties; Radioactive contamination; Radioactive pollution; Radioactivity; Rare earth elements; Renewable and Green Energy; Scanning electron microscopy; Scientific imaging; Spectral analysis; Spectrometry; Spectroscopy; Thermal analysis; Thermogravimetry; Waste Management/Waste Technology; Waste materials; X ray detectors; X-ray diffraction; Phosphogypsum contamination; Phosphogypsum; Morphological characterization; Rare earth elements; Waste
• ISSN: 1877-2641; 1877-265X
• DOI: 10.1007/s12649-018-0316-8

This paper presents the results of the study on chemical and the physical properties of waste phosphogypsum (PG) of apatite origin from the former chemical plant Wizow, Poland which are important for further processing and economic use. The research was carried out to verify whether the waste might be useful as a raw material for rare earth elements (REE) recovery and the manufacture of building materials. The following methods were chosen: X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy with an energy-dispersive X-ray detector, atomic absorption spectrometry, inductively coupled plasma spectrometry, differential thermal analysis, thermogravimetry, and gamma spectrometry with natural radioactive contamination analyzer. It has been proven that the chemical physical properties of phosphogypsum provide an opportunity to utilize this waste material as a source of REE and raw material for building purposes. PG contains an overall amount of REE in the interval of 0.343–0.637% by mass and does not show radioactivity level which would exclude it from construction purposes. The presented results serve as the basis for currently available technological directions in the management of apatite PG for useful trade products, which creates a chance for the elimination of its storage necessity by further processing. Graphical Abstract