A Study on Synthesis of Mayenite by Using Recycled Aluminium Resource for Application in Insulating Material

Abstract

Black dross is a dark gray dross generated during the aluminum recycling process that uses flux, and contains NaCl, KCl, Al2O3, MgO, etc. Black dross is separated into soluble substances (NaCl, KCl) and insoluble substances (Al2O4, MgO) through the dissolution process. Soluble materials can be reused as salt flux, and Al2O3 and MgO can be upcycled to various ceramic materials through the synthesis process. In this study, Mayenite was synthesized using Al2O3 and MgO recovered from black dross, and the synthesis was performed according to the mixing ratio and reaction temperature. It was confirmed that when Mayenite was synthesized using black dross (spinel) and CaCO3, precursors were changed to Mg0.4Al2.4O4 and CaO at 700 °C, and to Ca12Al14O33 (Mayenite) after 800 °C. In the mixing conditions experiment, it was confirmed that the Mayenite XRD peak increased with increase of the CaCO3 content, and the Mg0.4Al2.4O4 XRD peak decreased. As a result of the BET analysis of the synthesized powder, the surface area decreased as the fine particles were grown and agglomerated in the process of generating mayenite.