Mechanosynthesizing a dual cation orthophosphate using planetary ball mill; Potassium struvite production employing different primary components

Abstract

In this study, the mechanosynthesis of potassium struvite (K-struvite) containing different primary components during ball milling was studied. X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier-Transform Infrared (FTIR) and Raman spectroscopies, and Brunauer-Emmet-Teller (BET) methods beside Material Analysis Using Diffraction (MAUD) software were employed to characterize the mechanosynthesized particles. The conversion degrees of phosphate/non-phosphate base group reactions containing potassium dihydrogen phosphate/magnesium hydrogen phosphate/magnesium hydroxide/potassium hydroxide/magnesium oxide and phosphorus pentoxide were determined for different milling times. The formation kinetics data were analyzed together with the thermodynamic parameters of the corresponding reactions. It was found that the kinetics factors dominate the fast mechanosynthetical K-struvite formation due to the presence of the final product base in the reaction primary components. The calculated lattice parameters, a = 6.88 Å, b = 6.17 Å, c = 11.10 Å, were in agreement with each other. Comparable correlations were found between crystallite size and microstrain for all samples. Among all reactions, a technologically profound mechanosynthesis route for K-struvite production appears to be the reaction mixtures of magnesium/potassium hydroxyl with reverse phosphate base group. It was concluded that mechanosynthesis may be considered as a capable method in the fast production of mono-divalent orthophosphate utilizing different primary components.