Development of composite calcium hydroxide sorbent in mechanical operations and evaluation of its basic sorption properties

This article presents the results of research carried out on the possibility of obtaining composite calcium hydroxide sorbent in the process of two-step granulation, containing additional compounds of Al, Mg and Fe, and their textural and sorption studies. For this purpose, attempts were undertaken to compact commercial calcium hydroxide powder with six additives in the laboratory roll press. The resulting compacts were crushed and sieved in order to achieve the assumed sieve fraction. Based on the obtained results, basic parameters of the process of formation of composite sorbent have been determined. Both, the selected composite sorbents fractions and additives were subsequently subjected to textural studies (determination of the specific surface area and porosity) and sorption capacity performance. In addition, for the better interpretation of the results, thermogravimetric studies were carried out both for the additives and composite sorbents, as well as the grain size distribution of the additives. The results of the physicochemical tests of the obtained composite sorbents were compared with analogic results from the study on fine- grained hydroxide sorbent without additives and carbonate sorbent. The presented results showed that in a two- step granulation process it is possible to obtain the granular Ca(OH)(2) sorbent, as well as composite sorbents possessing better SO2 sorption capacity in comparison to the powder Ca(OH)(2) and/or to the calcium carbonate sorbent. This can be attributed to the combination of capability of the sorbent to appropriate thermal decomposition and the formation of a group of pores in the range of 0.07-0.3 microns.