Preparation of MnO2 and calcium silicate hydrate from electrolytic manganese residue and evaluation of adsorption properties

Abstract

Electrolytic manganese residue (EMR), a high volume byproduct resulting from the electrolytic manganese industry, was used as a cheap and abundant chemical source for preparing MnO2 and EMR-made calcium silicate hydrate (EMR-CSH). The MnO2 is successfully synthesized from the metal cations extracted from EMR, which can effectively recycle the manganese in the EMR. By the combination of XRD, SEM and EDX analysis, the as-prepared MnO2 is found to exhibit a single-phase with the purity of 90.3%. Furthermore, EMR-CSH is synthesized from EMR via hydrothermal method. Based on the detailed analyses using XRD, FT-IR, FE-SEM, EDX and BET surface area measurement, the product synthesized under the optimum conditions (pH 12.0 and 100 °C) is identified to be a calcium silicate hydrate with a specific surface area of 205 m2/g incorporating the slag-derived metals (Al and Mg) in its structure. The as-synthesized material shows good adsorption properties for removal of Mn2+ and phosphate ions diluted in water, making it a promising candidate for efficient bulk wastewater treatment. This conversion process, which enables us to fabricate two different kinds of valuable materials from EMR at low cost and through convenient preparation steps, is surely beneficial from the viewpoint of the chemical and economical use of EMR.