Hydrothermal synthesis of zeolite a using blast furnace slag

Alkali hydrothermal synthesis of zeolite A using blast furnace (BF) slag was investigated. The preliminary experiment was conducted in use of synthetic slag consisting of SiO2, Al2O3, and CaO powders, and it was made clear that the most optimum slag compositions to synthesize zeolite A were the molar ratio of Si to Al (Si/Al) of I and reduction of CaO content down to 15 mass%, and that hydrothermal treating conditions were the temperature range from 328 to 358 K, NaOH solution of 1 M (=mol/L) and the ratio of the volume of NaOH solution to total mass of slag (V-sol/W-slag) of 15 (mL/g). It was also found that synthetic slag with such a higher content of CaO as 40% resulted in formation of tobermorite and hydrogarnet. In the experiment using BF slag, zeolite A could be successfully synthesized by optimizing both conditions of the compositions of raw material powders and hydrothermal treatment as noted above, where optimization of the compositions of raw material powders such as Si or Al content were performed by the suitable amount of addition Of SiO2 powder or NaAlO2 powder as a source of Si and Al. The ball milling type reaction vessel containing numerous small SiC balls which was first adopted in this hydrothermal treating study was confirmed to be very effective for acceleration of synthetic reaction rate, shortening markedly the time period needed for fully synthesis of zeolite A. Temperature dependence of heat capacity of zeolite A powder synthesized in use of BF slag was measured after absorption of vapor at the ambient temperature, showing endothermic behavior with the peak at the temperature of around 473 K.