Study of production 500 kg/batch polyaluminum chloride from aluminum hydrate

Abstract

Polyaluminum chloride (PAC) is commonly used as a chemical in the water treatment industry, deodorant and paper-making. The PAC is a complex inorganic substance between hydroxyl and aluminum ions that gradually takes place chlorination with its general formula of Alx(OH)yCl3x-y. It has the ability to coagulate suspended solid or dispersed colloid within water perform easily precipitated flock. The raw materials used for manufacturing liquid PAC consists of hydrated alumina (Al(OH)3), hydrochloric acid (HCl), sulfuric acid (H2SO4) and calcium carbonate (CaCO3). A pilot-scale experiment with a capacity of 500 kg/batch feed was conducted by reacting Al(OH)3 with HCl and H2SO4, then neutralized using CaCO3 to obtain liquid PAC and gypsum as a by-product. The variation of acid concentration as reactant and reaction time were conducted to determine its effect on the composition of PAC and the amount of gypsum produced. The optimum experiment produced liquid PAC with the highest Al2O3 composition of 11.96% and the lowest Cl− ion of 10.87% at 2 hours reaction time with a total acid concentration of 37.74%.