Leaching of strontium sulfide from produced clinker in conversion furnace

Iran is rich in mineral resources one of which is mineral Celestine. Basing on current estimations, the capacity of mineral Celestine is over two million tons, 75-95% of which is strontium sulfate. However; in industries such as Color cathode Ray Tubes, pyrochemical processes, ceramics, paint production, zinc purification processes; strontium sulfate is not a direct feed, rather it is largely consumed in the form of strontium carbonate. Two conventional methods are used to produce strontium carbonate from the sulfate; that is direct reaction and black ash methods. Strontium sulfide, as an intermediate component has a key role in black ash process including strontium sulfate reduction by coke, hence producing and leaching the strontium sulfide by hot water. Finally the reaction of strontium sulfate with sodium carbonate lead to strontium carbonate. In this paper, a system was designed to analyze and optimize the process parameters of strontium sulfide production which is less expensive and available solvent in water. Fundamentally, when strontium sulfide becomes in contact with strontium sulfate; Sr(SH)2, and Sr(OH)2, are produced. The solubility of strontium sulfide depends on water temperature and the maximum solubility achieved at 90degreeC. The results showed that in the experimental scale, at water to SrS ratio of 6; they sediment for 45 minutes at 95degreeC in five operational stages; the separation of 95 and 97.1 percent of imported SrS is possible in effluent of fourth and fifth stages, respectively. Thus; four leaching stages could be recommended for pilot scale plants. Also, the results show that at water to SrS ratio of 8, 40 minutes sedimentation at 85-95degreeC in one operational stage, the separation of 95 percent separation of inputted SrS, is possible. Solvent leaching process is continued till no smell of sulfur components is felt. It could be used as a key role to determine the number of leaching stages in experiments. Finally, the results show that the presence of Ba, Ca and other similar ions in the system, has no effect in the results of the analysis.