Ca removal and Mg recovery from flue gas desulfurization (FGD) wastewater by selective precipitation

Abstract

Abstract Selective removal of Ca and recovery of Mg by precipitation from flue gas desulfurization (FGD) wastewater has been investigated. Thermodynamic analysis of four possible additives, Na2CO3, Na2C2O4, NaF and Na2SO4, indicated that both carbonate and oxalate could potentially provide effective separation of Ca via precipitation from Mg in FGD wastewater. However, it was found experimentally that the carbonate system was not as effective as oxalate in this regard. The oxalate system performed considerably better, with Ca removal efficiency of 96% being obtained, with little Mg inclusion at pH 6.0 when the dosage was ×1.4 the stoichiometric requirement. On this basis, the subsequent recovery process for Mg was carried out using NaOH with two-step precipitation. The product was confirmed to be Mg(OH)2 (using X-ray diffraction and thermo gravimetric analysis) with elemental analysis suggesting a purity of 99.3 wt.%.