Chemical Treatment and Characterization of Qatalum’s 1st Cut Spent Spot Lining (SPL)

Abstract

Spent pot lining (SPL) waste is produced in thousands of tons annually from the aluminium production factories including Qatar Aluminum Company, Qatalum. SPL is classified into first and second cut; the first cut is mainly composed of conductive graphite while the second cut consists of refractory insulator bricks. Generally, the 1st cut SPL is a hazardous material with contaminants of fluorides, cyanides, lead and chromium in addition to production of flammable gases when it contacts water. The work of this thesis is fully dedicated to characterizing 1st cut SPL. The sample was obtained from Qatar Aluminum Company (Qatalum) located in Mesaieed, Qatar. Moreover, 1st cut SPL samples were chemically treated for the purpose of extracting graphite that proved to be suitable for heavy metal ions removal from water after being treated to prepare graphene which was functionalized before using it by adding more carboxylate groups to its surface. In principle, the functionalized graphene has shown very high efficiency in copper ions removal from aqueous solutions at different pH values. The highest efficiency was observed at pH value of 7.