1 s2.0 S1877705812045341 Main
1 s2.0 S1877705812045341 Main
1 s2.0 S1877705812045341 Main
com
Abstract
New process technologies are disclosed to manufacture aluminium fluoride of high density and anhydrous hydrofluoric acid starting from
fluosilicic acid as raw material which is obtained during acidulation of phosphate rock in the manufacture of phosphatic fertilizers. An
overview of the relevant process technologies used commercially to consume this fluosilicic acid is provided in this paper. The new
process technologies which shall be implemented to satisfy market demand in fluorochemicals (production of aluminium fluoride of high
density from fluosilicic acid and production of anhydrous hydrofluoric acid from fluosilicic acid) and overcome some technical issues as
well are described.
2012
2012 The
TheAuthors.
Authors.Published
PublishedbybyElsevier
ElsevierLtd.
Ltd.Selection
Selection
and/or
peer-review
under
responsibility
of the
Scientifi
c /or
and/or
peer-review
under
responsibility
of the
Selection
and
peer-review
under
responsibility
the scientific
of SYMPHOS
2011.
Committee of
SYMPHOS
2011of Open
access undercommittee
CC BY-NC-ND
license.
Keywords: aluminium fluoride, hydrofluoric acid, fluorine technology, fluosilicic acid, fluorochemical, silicon tetrafluoride, sodium silicofluoride,
suplphate of potassium, sodium sulphate
Nomenclature
AHF
ATH
DCP
FSA
FSA1G
FSA2G
FSA3G
HBD
HFC
KSF
LBD
MGSF
MOP
PA
PR
SA
SAC
1877-7058 2012 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the Scientific Committee of SYMPHOS 2011
Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license. doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2012.09.471
256
SSA
SSF
SOP
STF
Symbols
MMT
Fluosilicic acid
Fluosilicates
Cryolite
Aluminium fluoride
Silicon tetrafluoride
COMPANY
FLUOROCHEMICAL
PRODUCT
YEARLY CAPACITY
(TON)
US
FSA
<< 68000
US
STF
< 28000
EU (BE)
Prayon
SSF/PSF
18000 / 3000
EU (HU)
Bige Holdings
Cryolite
<<
EU (PL)
TARNOBRZEG Ltd.
Cryolite
<<
EU (SE)
Alufluor
LD-AlF3
23000
CN
Several Producers
LD-AlF3
Small
CN
Wengfu
AHF
20000
IN
Alufluoride
LD-AlF3
5000
IN
Hindalco
LD-AlF3
3000
CN
Several Plants
SSF/PSF/MGSF
/NH4F
--
CN
SSF/PSF
--
JO
JPMC
LD-AlF3
20000
ID
PT Petrokimia Gresik
LD-AlF3
12000
RU
Phosagro /Ammophos
LD-AlF3 / SSF
23000
BY
Cryolite / LD-AlF3
5000/5000
LT
Eurochem / Lifosa
LD-AlF3
17000
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Aluminium fluoride is still the major product out of FSA with a production < 100000 tons / annum against about
800000 tons / annum mainly produced from fluorspar reported by (Reynolds, 2010) . See Table 2 below.
Table 2: World and China aluminium fluoride (AlF3) production and consumption per year (x 1000 tons)
STF could grow significantly as its added value is higher than manufacturing AlF3 / AHF making projects even more
attractive. Already five projects have been implemented in Asia (approx. 70000 tons / annum STF) using the fluorspar
process although it makes more sense to start from FSA.
Presently there is a supply shortage of FSA for water fluoridation in US and Canada and prices of FSA have risen
significantly.
a)
(b)
Fig. 1 : World production of fluorspar (a) 5.1 million tons (Will, 2010) and (b) 5.4 million tons (Miller, 2010). Reserves of fluorspar are reserves
that are economical to extract and recover according to USGS (Miller, 2010) are also reported.
According to (ResearchInChina, 2010), the fluorspar reserves in China (2009) reached 21 million tons, providing 9.3%
of the worlds total, ranking at the third position, while the fluorite output recorded three million tons in the same year,
contributing 58.8% to the worlds total, topping the global list. According to statistics of year 2009, the ratio of fluorite
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reserves to output in China was not more than seven, indicating that the fluorite resource in China is likely to run out within
seven years provided that the recoverable reserves of fluorite will fail to increase.
China is deficient in fluorite resource and demand is growing for fluorite year after year at significant pace. In 2009, the
apparent consumption of fluorite in China reached 2.8 million tons, up 8.2% from a year earlier; and the figure in H1 2010
hit 1.93 million metric tons (MMT). Concerning the consumption of fluorite, China ranks first around the globe, but lags far
behind the developed countries in term of downstream consumption. A case to this is fluorine chemical industry, the
demand of fluorite is 30% less in China than opposed to nearly 60% in developed countries.
(a)
(b)
Fig. 3: World HF production capacity is about 2 million tons in 2009 (a) and Fluorine Industry Segments: fluorocarbon production is the largest HF
segment followed by aluminium fluoride production (Will, 2010)
As long as fluorspar was cheap, there was no need for an alternative source of fluorine like FSA. Presently the price of
fluorspar is about USD 350.-/ton FOB compared to FSA 100% that can be produced very cheaply, by operating a single
absorber. The theoretical price of FSA would be USD 600.-/ton if fluorine F contained in FSA is assumed at the same value
of F contained in fluorspar. At this price, it makes any business for fluorine attractive and it is adding appreciable value to
the phosphate business. Especially for aluminium fluoride that is a bulk chemical, easily transportable requiring large
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amounts and competitive sources of fluorine. At the time of writing this paper, some Acid Grade Fluorspar from China
reached USD 500.-/ton back to pre-recession highs.
phosphate rock resources
The world population is expected to reach 9 billion of inhabitants in 50 years and productions / capacities are forecasted
to increase by more than 50% maybe 70%. In the near future, fluosilicic acid uses will probably increase bearing in mind
that environmental regulations are more stringent, technical hurdles for the technology are now resolved, technical expertise
is available, communication between the industrial sectors concerned is improving constantly.
The phosphate rock reserves are assumed to be sufficient for more than a century; other base reserves less attractive will
be considered at the end of the century only. (See below Fig. 4 Hubbert peak for phosphorus)
Table 3: Phosphate rock production and reserves according to USGS (Jasinski, 2011)
According to International Fertilizer Association (IFA, 2009), the world production of phosphate rock in 2009 was 162
million tons phosphate rock (49.7 million tons as P2O5) and the world production of phosphoric acid was 33.6 million tons
expressed as P2O5 (48.6 million tons expressed as H3PO4)
Assuming that phosphate rock contains 2 to 5% fluorine (average approx. 3% F) an amount of 4.8 million tons of
fluorine is available which is about twice the amount of F present in fluorspar. (Fluorspars are up to 48% F).
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Assuming a recovery rate of 35% as a minimum as per data below (EFMA, 2000, p. 24) for dihydrate (DH) & Hemihydrate (HH) Phosphoric Acid processes: an amount of 1.7 million tons F could be recovered (2.0 million tons FSA 100%)
corresponding to 1.4 million tons AHF about 70% of world production.
For higher accuracy of this assessment, the production of FSA should be defined for each production plant and calculated
as a function of the rock used and technology used for manufacturing phosphoric acid if exact production is not known.
Table 4: Typical distribution of F in dihydrate and hemihydrate PA (phosphoric acid) processes
Acid
Gypsum
Reactor off gas
Flash cooler vapour
Concentrator vapour
15
43
5
3
35
12
50
8
30
-
As shown above (Table 1) fuosilicic acid finds its main application in the manufacture of low bulk density (LBD)
aluminium fluoride being a large volume chemical which is mostly produced from fluorspar as high bulk density (HBD)
aluminium fluoride. From fluosilicic acid a small amount only is produced. Aluminium fluoride is essentially used as a flux
for smelting aluminium by volumetric addition to the cells of aluminium smelters in order to regenerate the cryolite bath.
HBD aluminium fluoride is the preferred material due to its high density and good fluidity and none of this high density
material is produced at present from FSA via intermediate HF which process is available, feasible and proven at this time.
Hereinafter are disclosed new process technologies for manufacturing anhydrous hydrofluoric acid (AHF) from
fluosilicic acid (FSA) which AHF can be converted into (HBD) aluminium fluoride. This aluminium fluoride technology
often referred to as the Dry/FSA Process which is a gas phase process using a fluidized bed reactor. An opportunity to invest
in profitable projects does exist really. Additionally the manufacture of various downstream products of fluorine:
refrigerants, fluoropolymers, etc and downstream products of silicon: silicon metal, silicon tetrafluoride, silicas may offer
further interesting opportunities.
2. FSA-based Fluorine technologies
2.1. LBD-Aluminium fluoride from FSA [FSA1G]
FSA1G: FSA-based technology of the first generation (1G) is the: wet FSA process for production of AlF3 from FSA.
This process has also an equivalent process of first generation starting with fluorspar which is the old wet HF/fluorspar
process for production of aluminium fluoride and cryolite which is today totally abandoned.
The first process known for manufacturing (LBD) aluminium fluoride from fluosilicic acid was patented by ChemieLinz, Austria (Weinrotter, 1963) about 50 years ago and many plants were built based on this technology or comparable
technologies.
Chemistry:
H2SiF6 + Al2O3.3H2O 2 AlF3 + 3 SiO2 + 4H2O
[1]
This process uses the direct neutralization of the fluosilicic acid with alumina hydroxide carried out in a stirred reactor. It
is often referred to as the Wet/FSA Process . Although this technology tends to be abandoned due to the low density and
low fluidity (flowability) of the product, the high capital cost of the plant and its environmental issues resolved partially
only as neutralization of mother liquors may still be required, further developments of this process would revive this
technology being still accepted by few players only. Improvements are available from us for material of construction and
cost-effective design, improved crystallisation process, product granulation, etc.
This process requires very pure FSA. Quality of the FSA is often a limitation to use this process.
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Fig. 5: Flowsheet LBD-Aluminium fluoride from FSA. Wet FSA-based Process of first generation [FSA1G]
Plants (usual name) built with this technology: JPMC, Alufluor, Lifosa, Ammophos, Alcoa, Luzhai, Guixi, Dayukou,
Wengfu, Achinsk, Pchiney Salindres, Lubon, DMCC, Alufluoride, Navin, Hindalco, SPIC, PT Petrokimia Gresik, AlQaim,
Gomel, Trepca.
2.2. HBD-Aluminium Fluoride from FSA and AHF from FSA [FSA2G]
FSA2G: FSA-based technologies of the second generation (2G) known also as HF from FSA or dry process for AlF3
from FSA or fumed silica process by the fluorine route.
A process for manufacturing AHF from fluosilicic acid was disclosed first by Tennessee Corp., USA (Oakley, 1962)
(Houston, 1962) maybe 50 years ago and further disclosed by Wellmann-Lord (Kelley & al., 1971), etc and more lately by
(Flemmert, 1974) of Nynaes Petroleum, Sweden, and (Zawadzki, 1977) Lubon Works, Poland, the latter operated a small
pilot plant for manufacturing diluted HF. In 2008 Wengfu, China commissioned a first commercial plant for AHF with the
technology of Buss Chemtech AG, Switzerland based on know-how from Lubon Works.
Chemistry:
H2SiF6.SiF4(aq) + H2SO4 2 SiF4 + 2 HF(aq) + H2SO4
5 SiF4 + 2 H2O 2 H2SiF6 .SiF4 (aq) + SiO2 (s)
Al2O3.3H2O Al2O3 + 3 H2O
Al2O3 + 6 HF 2 AlF3 + 3 H2O
[2]
[3]
[4]
[5]
The process is based on the decomposition of FSA by mixing strong fluosilicic acid with strong sulphuric in a stirred
reactor and separating silicon tetrafluoride gas using sulphuric acid as dehydrating agent and extracting the anhydrous
hydrofluoric acid into separation columns as per the principle shown on the flowsheet below. The evaporation can be
realized with a single stage or two stages. Presently AD Process Strategies Sarl proposes an improved process of this
technology to suit the water balance of the phosphoric acid (PA) plants, di-hydrate (DH) PA Process and especially hemihydrate (HH) PA process being not suitable to receive large amount of water at its goal is to produce strong phosphoric acid
directly. Sulphuric acid containing water that is generated from this HF plant has to be re-circulated to the phosphoric acid
plant. The sulphuric acid usage or recirculation which is normally 30 ton/ton AHF as 100% H2SO4 can be reduced to 15
ton/ton. Water contained in the acid recirculated is reduced from more than 10 ton/ton AHF down to 5 ton/ton.
The technology of second generation is proven, resolves environmental issues and is very profitable as raw material costs
are low (low cost of fluorine, no cost for sulphur or sulphuric acid at all), the capital cost is reasonable. Moreover this
technology is promising as it open markets to HBD aluminium fluoride and anhydrous hydrofluoric acid, both being large
volume chemicals.
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This process is less sensitive to impurities contained in the FSA due the provision of AHF purification unit in the
process.
An optional process is a process with hydrolysis of STF in the gas phase under high temperature to produce silica, Fumed
silica as per the Nynaes process or silica as per the Reed process. Silicon tetrafluoride (STF) can be produced from this
process as well.
Plants (usual name) built with this technology: Lubon, Grace, Wengfu for AHF
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2.3. HBD-Aluminium Fluoride and AHF from fluosilicates (from SSF or FSA) [FSA3G]
FSA3G: FSA-based technology of the third generation. This is the advanced process for stand-alone plants providing
many alternatives for not recycling water and sulphuric acid to the phosphoric acid plant and alternatives for reusing the
material streams available inside the process cycle.
When diluted sulphuric acid stream is not returned to the phosphoric acid plant or can not be re-circulated due to
technical reasons or not and in particularly in the process of second generation mentioned above, AD Process Strategies Sarl
proposes a new technology for stand-alone HF plants. The proposed process uses a fluosilicate as an intermediate (solid)
raw material, which is transportable not like FSA and reaction of this fluosilicate with strong sulphuric acid. The silicon
tetrafluoride and hydrofluoric acid so obtained are treated as per the state of art technique in a similar manner as mentioned
above for the technology of second generation using absorption / desorption of HF in sulphuric acid. The diluted sulphuric
acid stream resulting from this process can be pre-concentrated and recycled to the phosphoric acid plant or used in
production of fertilizers like single superphosphate (SSP), dicalcium phosphate DCP, ammonium sulphate (AS), etc or
concentrated and recycled to the HF reaction or purified for sale.
Fig. 8 : Block diagram for HFD Aluminium fluoride and AHF from SSF or FSA [FSA3G]. (in dark blue: main process cycle, in light blue: optional
process units). [Operation units: R-Reactor, S- Separator, A- Absorber, C- Crystallizer,..]
FSA2G
30 to 15 tons sulphuric acid and 10 to 5 tons of water in spent acid per ton HF produced (or per 45 tons of
PA produced expressed as P2O5) to be recycled.
FSA3G
5 to 0 tons of sulphuric acid and 5 to 0 tons of water in spent acid per ton HF produced to be recycled.
Chemistry: The process uses the chemical reaction of sulphuric acid / sodium fluosilicate in opposite direction under
different conditions, in aqueous medium and low temperature (step 1) and in anhydrous medium and high temperature (step
2):
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Step-1: Production of sodium fluosilicate (SFS) or silicofluoride (SSF) by one of these chemical reactions: (reaction 2 is
the usual process to manufacture SSF)
H2SiF6(aq) + Na2SO4(s) Na2SiF6(s) + H2SO4(aq)
H2SiF6(aq) + 2 NaCl(s) Na2SiF6(s) + 2 HCl(aq)
[6a]
[6b]
Step-2: Decomposition of SSF by Sulphuric Acid and recycle of SiF4 creating a loop to generate additional FSA and
SSF. (This reaction was tested; yield is not critical as the salt is recycled or can be purified as required)
Na2SiF6(s) + H2SO4 2 HF(g) + SiF4(g) + Na2SO4(s)
3 SiF4 + 2 H2O 2 H2SiF6(aq.) + SiO2(s)
[7]
[8]
Step-3: The aluminum fluoride is produced between reaction of HF with alumina trihydrate in a fluidized bed reactor.
This process is the same as for the fluorspar process or FSA process of second generation [FSA2G])
Al2O3.3H2O Al2O3 + 3 H2O
Al2O3 + 6 HF 2 AlF3 + 3 H2O
[4]
[5]
Step-4: Pre-concentration of sulphuric acid (A pilot unit is operating since more than 10 years concentrating sulphuric
acid up to 85% in presence of fluorine) and recycle of this acid to the process or reused by other consumers.
Plants built with this technology: First prefeasibility study is underway. Acceptance for this technology of third
generation is higher than for the technology of second generation.
Use of Potassium fluosilicate (PSF) instead of SSF for this Process still needs to be investigated. It provides the
advantage of producing directly sulphate of potassium (SOP) which is a large volume fertilizer.
3. Extra- productions using third FSA generation technology [FSA3G]
Many alternatives are potentially available to use the materials present in streams internally recycled in this process that
will definitely improve the benefits and economics of projects.
3.1. Production of Dicalcium Phosphate (DCP)
Production of DCP from HCl (and optionally from sulphuric acid and sodium chloride or sea water) for production of
DCP (feed grade) as a production unit or as neutralization unit with separation of solids and recycling for production of
DCP (fertilizer grade).
Dicalcium Phosphate dihydrate CaHPO4.2H2O, is produced by a wet process according to the following steps:
[9]
Ca3(PO4)2 + 4 HCl Ca(H2PO4)2 + 2 CaCl2
[10
Ca(H2PO4)2 + Ca(OH)2 2 CaHPO4.2H2O + 2 H2O
- Reaction of phosphate rock with hydrochloric acid, main raw materials, from which a monocalcium phosphate liquor is
obtained.
Purification of the remaining solution by means of the removal of the inert matters and undesirable compounds.
Production of dicalcium phosphate by means of calcium salts precipitation and product filtration.
Drying of dicalcium phosphate at moderate temperature to keep its two water
molecules.
3.2. Production of Sulphate of Potassium (SOP)
Production of SOP by the double salt decomposition, Glaserite process. In this process sodium sulphate is reacted with
potassium chloride to yield potassium sulphate. This reaction occurs in two steps as follows:
[11]
4 Na2SO4 + 6 KCl = Na2SO4.3K2SO4 + 6 NaCl
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