A Study on the Preparation of Precipitated Calcium Carbonate from Steelmaking Slag

After extracting the calcium component from the KR slag and the converter slag using ammonium chloride solution, the extract was reacted with carbon dioxide to synthesize precipitated calcium carbonate (PCC). In order to understand the effect of ultrasonic waves on calcium extraction from slags and calcium carbonate synthesis, the efficiency of calcium carbonate synthesis according to the with or without of ultrasonic waves was analyzed. The synthetic efficiency of PCC was investigated according to various experimental conditions, and the synthesized calcium carbonate was analyzed using XRD and SEM. In both slags, the amount of PCC decreased as the reaction temperature increased. The pH at the end of the experiment capable of synthesizing the maximum PCC in the carbonation reaction was 7 (irradiated with ultrasound) and 8 (irradiated without ultrasound), respectively. Because the pH of the extraction filtrate is different when irradiated with or without ultrasound, the pH was adjusted to 9 by injecting an additive (10 M NaOH) before the carbonation experiment, and then the experiment was performed. When calcium was extracted from KR slag, the crystal phase appeared as calcite regardless of the pH at the end of the experiment. However, when calcium was extracted from the converter slag and the pH was set to 7 at the end of the experiment, the crystal phase of PCC appeared as a mixture of calcite and vaterite.