Impurity Elements in Phosphate Rock and Phosphoric acid-characteristics, elimination-recovery

Boston, Massachusetts (USA), 21-25 April, 1980
Proceedings edited by IMPHOS

This is the second international congress on phosphorus compounds, which was organized by IMPHOS and brought together scientists engaged in basic research on phosphorus chemistry, as well as engineers developing new production processes.

The congress dealt with phosphate raw materials and phosphoric acid. As far as the raw material is concerned, it was emphasized that, in contrast to petroleum resources or ores for metal production, there is no substitute for phosphate ores as source of mineral fertilizers. It is therefore of paramount importance that broad-based, long-term research and development programs be carried out on the properties, behavior, recovery and enrichment of various phosphate ores and phosphate deposits. Suitable industrial processes would have to be developed, to recover the P2O5 value from low-quality ores.

Concerning the phosphoric acid, which is the most important basic product in phosphorus chemistry, papers were presented on the large-scale processes used then as well as other processes still under development at the time, for the production and purification of phosphoric acid.

The proceedings encompass papers presented at the congress, which covered the following topics:
1. Substitutes in phosphate minerals: nature of the apatite host,
2. Beneficiation of lower-assay phosphate rocks, including flotation and other physical methods, and thermochemical treatments,
3. Making and purifying wet-process phosphoric acid, including acidulation, purification and phosphoric acid derivatives,
4. Recovery of valuable by-products, including uranium, lanthanides and fluorine.

Copies are available at IMPHOS upon request.