RECOVERY OF BORON WASTES WITH INORGANIC ACID

Approximately 73-74% of boron mineral reserves all over the world are located in the Western Anatolian region of Turkey, in the provinces of Eskişehir, Kütahya, Balıkesir, and Bursa. The most intense minerals extracted from these fields are colemanite, ulexite, and tincal minerals, respectively. The general principle in the recovery of these minerals is to extract the raw ore and obtain it by size reduction processes of concentrates in high grade. In addition to concentrates, boric acid (H3BO3) production is also possible in Balıkesir and Kütahya. The production of this acid in question includes a series of processes from dissolution with sulfuric acid at high temperatures to crystallization. In this study, except for the aforementioned high concentrations, boron recovery from clay waste, which is high in boron content and is collected from plant waste ponds, is investigated. For this purpose, ulexite-colemanite-containing slime wastes of the Bigadiç (Balıkesir) Plant were dissolved in 7% solids at 60°C in different sulfuric acid concentrations (1-6% H2SO4) and were obtained with 83-97% B2O3 recovery. When the boron wastes are evaluated, issues such as the discovery and establishment of a new waste pond/dam will be solved, the valuable content in the wastes will be recovered, and the environmental problems of boron and other contents in clay will be eliminated. This article includes information about the characterization of the structure by considering the dissolution of boron and other compounds, as well as obtaining boric acid from inorganic acid and boron wastes.