?KINETIC STUDIES AND REACTOR DESIGNING FOR THE PRODUCTION OF LIGHT WEIGHT MAGNESIUM CARBONATE
Keywords:
Kinetic studies, Light weight magnesium carbonate, Design of reactor, Material balance, Order of reaction.Abstract
Studies have been undertaken to investigate kinetic data for producing light weight magnesium carbonate from
magnesium sulphate and commercial soda ash solution. Using factorial planning, series of hatch-wise experiments
were carried out in a 25 lit capacity stirred tank reactor (S.T.R.) at three concentration levels of the reactants (viz.
low, medium and high) and two agitation levels (viz. 280 and 560 r.p.m.). It has been observed that initial
concentration of Mgttions has pronounced effect both on the yield of the desired product and reaction kinetics.
Whereas the agitation level/Reynolds number (within range of 6000 to 17000) has insignificant effect on the said
parameter. The optimum concentrations of the reactants at which the concentration -time plot is linear arc: MgH
ions 20 gl' and Na2C01 270 gl-I. The data obtained has been applied to design C.S.T.R. which suggests that a
single tank reactor (0.6m3) operating within the range of 30 -45 r.p.rn. would be economically feasible to produce
125 Kg h-I of light weight magnesium carbonate.
