Dissolution kinetics and mechanism of gibbsitic bauxite and pure gibbsite in sodium hydroxide solution under atmospheric pressure

Abstract

The crystal structure, morphology, dissolution kinetics and mechanism of gibbsitic bauxite and pure gibbsite in NaOH solution under atmospheric pressure were systematically investigated by XRD and SEM. The results show that the size of single crystal of gibbsite in gibbsitic bauxite is smaller than that in pure gibbsite, but the interplanar distance is larger than that of pure gibbsite, which result in more defects in the crystal and less energy needed to dissolve in alkaline solution for the gibbsitic bauxite. The dissolution kinetic equations of gibbsitic bauxite and pure gibbsite were established, and the corresponding activation energies were calculated to be 99.144 and 115.149 kJ/mol, respectively.