Zirconium Oxide Manufacturing - Essay Example

Introduction Zirconia does not exist naturally in its pure form but it is can be found in baddeleyite and zircon sulphate which are the major sources for the materials used for industrial manufacture of Zirconium oxide. During the industrial process, a number of activities are performed on the materials used including separation and removal of any undesirable materials and impurities. Several routes to the extraction of zirconium oxide are conducted including: chlorination, alkali decomposition, lime fusion and precipitation of the acidic reagents.

(Hampel, 1954). Zirconium oxide is characteristic of having a very high resistance to heat and this makes it an ideal material to be used as a refractory insulating material, industrial manufacture of crucibles and production of alkaline zircornate. Discussion In order to establish and maintain an energy management philosophy at an industrial plant that deals with large scale production of Zirconium oxide, a number of energy efficiency measures have to be put into place. ( Bentor et al. 2014 ) .

These include: a) The manufacturing process should be able to introduce zirconium tetrachloride in the reaction zone and the process must be carried out continuously at 120310 C. b) The production process should be able to introduce a hydrolyzing agent simultaneously into the system and this should be carried out at 220 C-290 C. c) The selected hydrolyzing agent must have the chemical formula ROH where R is normally selected from the group that is comprised of radicals of hydrogen and alkyl that contain 1-5 carbons.

This process must be carried out at 900-1200 C. d) The temperature in the reaction zone must be kept between 400-600C for at least 1-5 hours and this allows for substantial elimination of the chloride from the resulting Zirconium oxide. e) The final product must be converted from hydrous zircornia to Zirconium oxide. Taking in account the energy management measures indicated above, we can come up with a typical industrial process that shows how Zirconium oxide can be produced in large scale while at the same time minimizing the cost of production incurred through energy consumption.

Zirconium is usually obtained from sand as a raw material for the production of zirconium oxide. The zirconium sand is usually calcined with either lime or a mixture of lime and magnesia. The resulting product is a alkaline earth zircornate and sodium silicate and zirconium oxide can be recovered from sodium zicornate free from alkalis to obtain it in its pure form, the impurities must be removed first. Water is added to the mixture of Sodium silicate and sodium zicornate which are in solid form and this result in formation of a complex hydrated zirconium hydroxide which has a high level of alkalinicity.

The mixture is dissolved in hydrochloric acid and zirconium salts are formed as a result including zirconium (iv) chloride. In order to separate the salts, the process of precipitation is conducted using sodium either sodium oxide or sodium carbonate and these results in the formation of zirconium hydroxide and zirconium carbonate and from the hydroxide of zirconium, zirconium oxide can be obtained. The energy flow diagram represented as shown below. Figure 1: The energy flow diagram for industrial production of zirconium oxide.

Conclusion From the discussion above, it possible to achieve an energy efficient system that can be used to manufacture Zirconium oxide in and industry and this requires that the proper temperature and time period is maintained for the reactions to take place effectively. References Hampel, Rare Metals Handbook, Reinhold Publishing Corp., New York, 1954, page 604. Hydrolyzing Theoretical Chemistry, vol. 7, Longmans, Green and Co., New York, 1927, pp. 124, 143 & 144. Bentor, Yinon. Chemical Element.

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