Investigation of the Dissolution of Colemanite Ore in Water and Boric Acid Solutions Including Highly Acidic Ion Exchangers under Microwave Heating

Abstract

The dissolution of colemanite obtained from Bandırma Boraks Corporation was investigated in boric acid solutions containing highly acidic ion exchangers in a classical and microwave energy heating environment and the results showed that superior conversions can be obtained via microwave heating. Particle size, acid concentration, reaction temperature, stirring speed, amount of ion exchanger, solid to liquid ratio, and microwave power were selected as parameters. Dissolution kinetics of colemanite was also examined and it was observed that the dissolution rate increased with decreasing particle size and solid to liquid ratio and increased with stirring speed, acid concentration, and amount of acidic ion exchanger. The relationship between conversion and system parameters was determined with nonlinear estimation by using the statistical program Statistica 7.0. The activation energies (E) for classical and microwave heating methods were found as 24.40 and 22.98 kJmol–1, respectively.