Crystallization of calcium sulfate dihydrate under simulated conditions of phosphoric acid production in the presence of aluminum and magnesium ions

Abstract The effect of Al 3+ and Mg 2+ ions, as additives, on the crystallization of gypsum was studied under simulated conditions of the phosphoric acid production. Calcium hydrogen phosphate and sulfuric acid were mixed with dilute phosphoric acid at 80°C, and the turbidity of the reaction mixture was measured at different time periods to calculate the induction time of gypsum crystals formation. Addition of Al 3+ ions up to 2% decreased the induction time and increased the growth efficiency while addition of Mg 2+ increased the induction time and decreased the growth efficiency compared with in absence of additives. Interestingly, the crystals mean and median diameters were found to increase in the presence of Al 3+ and decrease in the presence of Mg 2+ . The surface energy increased with Al 3+ and decreased with Mg 2+ compared to the baseline (without additives). Gypsum morphology changed from needle-like type in absence of additives to thick-rhombic in the presence of Al 3+ ions.