• Journal of the Korean Recycled Construction Resources Institute
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• v.12 no.1
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• pp.40-46
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• 2024

A novel approach is presented to address issues associated with the use of strong acidic solutions for the leaching of magnesium oxide (MgO) from spent magnesia-carbon refractories. An ultrasonic flotation and separation process is employed, with a mildly acidic solvent, acetic acid, used to selectively chelate MgO from the spent refractories. When using 2 M acetic acid as a solvent, the recovery of the graphite exhibited 99.7 % with high purity of 72.7 %, showing a significant improvement compared to using water as the solvent. Furthermore, the technology presented in this study offers a method for producing magnesium acetate through the reaction of MgO in spent refractory with acetic acid, providing a means for the purification and separation of graphite.