DESIGN OF A PROCESS THAT SYNTHESIZES

10000 LITRES PER DAY OF POLY ALUMINIUM

FERRIC CHLORIDE FROM COAL GANGUE
Harare Institute of Technology: School of Engineering and Technology
Department of Chemical and Process Systems Engineering
Author: Artleen M Muza, Supervisor Mr. J. Govha
Abstract
The risk of outbreaks of water-borne diseases like cholera and typhoid is a constant threat in
Zimbabwe as there is a serious shortage of water treatment chemicals in the country leading
to occasional water treatment plant shut downs which affect even the biggest water treatment
plant in the country (Morton Jaffray). There is a high demand for water treatment coagulants
in Zimbabwe (77 000kg of coagulant per day in Harare alone) as most of the coagulant is
being imported from China which leads to externalisation of foreign currency which is
detrimental to the economy of the country. The production of poly aluminium ferric chloride
(PAFC) in this work is focused on the use of coal gangue as a source of aluminium and
ferrous ions
Introduction water thereby removing most of the
undesirable odour and colour in the
Poly aluminium Ferric Chloride has several
water(Williams, Forbes, Wagoner and Hahn,
applications in the potable water industry,
2018).
including both high and low turbidity
removal, enhanced coagulation, NOM The use of poly aluminium ferric chloride
(natural organic matter) removal, colour is gaining momentum in the world
removal, odour removal and arsenic especially in China due to the abundance of
reduction softening solids sedimentation aid. coal mines in the country.PAFC can being
It promotes faster sedimentation in general produced at a relatively low price from coal
and specifically, better sedimentation in mine waste which gives it a competitive
cold water, making it an ideal choice for the advantage over other coagulants like poly
industry. This is so because it combines the aluminium chloride and aluminium sulphate.
advantages of both poly aluminium chloride In light of this, local production of PAFC
and ferric chloride. poly aluminium ferric could be a possible foreign currency cash
chloride when added in small quantities to cow as global production is still quite low
raw water, iron(III) hydroxide precipitates such that the prospects of exporting PAFC
and adsorbs finely divided solids and colloid are high.Coal gangue is mainly made up of
which give rise to odour and odour of the silicon, aluminium and iron compounds for
example kaolinite (Al2Si2O5(OH)4) and
pyrite (FeS2)(Yu, Huang, Jiu and Hao,
Results
2022).

Process Description
Pretreatment of the raw materials comes
first which involves crushing the coal
gangue an sieving to obtain a fine powder.
The powder is then calcinated at 675ºC for
an hour and left to cool. The calcinated
powder is then taken for acid leaching using
5mol/l HCL at 90ºC for 4 hours. It is then
Figure 2: Ion leaching dependency on HCL
filtered and the filtrate is taken for oxidation
concentration
using H2O2 and pH corrected using CaCO3
then finally microwaved for polymerization From the graph it can therefore be
at 80W for 5 minutes. The solution is left to concluded that the optimum HCL
age for 24 hours before it is packaged and concentration for ion leaching is 5 mol/l.
stored.

Figure 1: Process Flow Diagram for the

production of PAFC Figure3: Ion leaching dependency on
temperature

It can be concluded that the optimum

temperature for acid leaching of aluminium
and ferrous ions is 90(℃).

Figure 4:Effect of pH on turbidity removal
ratio
From the graph it can be concluded that the
optimum pH is 7.
Figure 5:FTIR results for synthesized PAFC
Conclusion
The result obtained from FTIR
characterization of PAFC from coal gangue
is similar to that from the theoretical FTIR
results which are the reference. Thus, it can
be concluded that the production of PAFC
from coal gangue was successful. The
optimum conditions for the production
being 675ºC for one hour calcination, 5mol/l
HCL acid leaching at 90ºC for I hour and 5
minutes polymerization at 80W and pH 7.
mass and energy balances were done using
scale up factors from the laboratory results .
A rotary kiln with a capacity of 5000kg,
9.76m length and 3.02m diameter and a
stainless steel acid leaching reactor with a
volume capacity of 7.9m3 , 4.05m height
and 2.16m diameter were successfully
designed. A HAZOP analysis and a process
control system was done to identify any
deviations that may occur in the system and
predict future hazards as well as ways to
avoid them.
Recommendations
Research should continue on finding other
methods of polymerization to further
optimize the process. There is need for
simulation or prototyping of this process to
check for the over sighted problems that
might arise during the plant operation.
References
Almeida, V. and Schneider, I., 2022.
Production of a ferric chloride coagulant by
leaching an iron ore tailing.
Bray, R. and Fitobór, K., 2017. Sizes of iron
hydroxide particles formed during ferric
coagulation processes. desalination and
water treatment, 64, PP.419-424.
G, C., 2016. Challenges in Water Resources
and Waste water Treatment. International
Journal of Water and Wastewater Treatment
( ISSN 2381-5299 ),2(2).