Part of the book: Application of Thermodynamics to Biological and Materials Science
The principal material in the phosphate ores is composed of calcium fluorapatite Ca10(PO4)6F2, in which the various components have been partially substituted by magnesium, sodium, carbonate, and hydroxyl ions. These substitutions affect the stability of the material and its reactivity toward the acid attack. The present chapter reports the influence of carbonates and magnesium on these properties. Using different calorimeters, dissolution experiments of carbonated and noncarbonated Ca and Ca/Mg apatites were carried out in acid solutions leading to thermochemical quantities. The results show that substitution of carbonate for F ions in the channel (to get A-type carbonate F-apatites) results in increasing the stability of the edifice, while substitution of CO3 for PO4 in fluor- or hydroxyapatites (to get B-type apatites) leads to a decrease in stability. The latter phenomenon was also observed when substituting magnesium for calcium in F-apatites. The presence of the former in the apatite structure results in an increase of the speed of dissolution in acid solution that is enhanced when carbonate is also replacing phosphate groups. Dissolution mechanism of synthesized Ca/Mg F-apatites seems to be a one-step process, while dissolution of a Gafsa (TN) natural phosphate to get superphosphate fertilizer is more complex.
Part of the book: Phosphoric Acid Industry
Glasses of the (50-x/2)Na2O-xMO-(50-x/2)P2O5 (M = Zn, Mg or Mn) (0 ≤ x ≤ 33 mol%), (50-x)Na2O-xMO-50P2O5 (M = Zn, Mn) (0 ≤ x ≤ 33 mol%), and (0.9-x)NaPO3-xSiO2-0.1ZnO (0 ≤ x ≤ 0.1 mol) were prepared by the melt quenching technique. Samples were investigated by means of X-ray diffraction, Archimede’s method, ellipsometry, Fourier-transformed infrared (FTIR), Raman, 31P solid state magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (MAS-NMR), UV-visible spectroscopy and calorimetry. For zinc, manganese and magnesium phosphate glasses, the increase in density with the addition of MO oxide suggests the compactness of the vitreous network. For zinc phosphate silicate glasses, the variations of density and refractive index were attributed to the structural changes when SiO2 oxide is progressively introduced. The increase in the glass transition temperature (Tg) reflects an increase in the cross-link strength of the structure as MO and SiO2 oxides are gradually incorporated. For all glass composition, spectroscopic investigations revealed the depolymerization of metaphosphate chains (Q2) allowing the formation of phosphate dimers (Q1). Calorimetric dissolution shows that the dissolution is endothermic for lower MO content and become exothermic when x rises. For (50-x/2)Na2O-xZnO-(50-x/2)P2O5 (0 ≤ x ≤ 33 mol%) glasses, the formation enthalpy increases with the incorporation of ZnO oxide.
Part of the book: Contemporary Topics about Phosphorus in Biology and Materials