Synthesis of KAlSiO4 by Hydrothermal Processing on Biotite Syenite and Dissolution Reaction Kinetics

Abstract

To make potassium from K-bearing rocks accessible to agriculture, processing on biotite syenite powder under mild alkaline hydrothermal conditions was carried out, in which two types of KAlSiO4 were obtained successfully. The dissolution-precipitation process of silicate rocks is a significant process in lithospheric evolution. Its effective utilization will be of importance for realizing the comprehensiveness of aluminosilicate minerals in nature. Two kinds of KAlSiO4 were precipitated in sequence during the dissolution process of biotite syenite. The crystal structures of two kinds of KAlSiO4 were compared by Rietveld structure refinements. The kinetics model derived from geochemical research was adopted to describe the dissolution behavior. The reaction order and apparent activation energy at the temperature range of 240–300 °C were 2.992 and 97.41 kJ/mol, respectively. The higher dissolution reaction rate of K-feldspar mainly relies on the alkaline solution, which gives rise to higher reaction order. During the dissolution-precipitation process of K-feldspar, two types of KAlSiO4 with different crystal structure were precipitated. This study provides novel green chemical routes for the comprehensive utilization of potassium-rich silicates.