Influence of ammonium nitrate on the crystallisation of ammonium sulfate

ABSTRACT

This study aims to explore the influence mechanism of ammonium nitrate produced by ozone denitrification on the crystallisation of ammonium sulfate, a by-product of ammonia desulfurisation. The laser method was used to study the influence of ammonium nitrate on the solubility and metastable zone width of ammonium sulfate. An experiment on the influence of ammonium nitrate on the particle size of ammonium sulfate was designed, and the influence mechanism was explored through scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The findings showed that the addition of ammonium nitrate increased the size and aspect ratio of ammonium sulfate crystals. The addition of ammonium nitrate inhibited the dissolution of ammonium sulfate and widened its metastable zone. The addition of ammonium nitrate covered the active sites of crystal nucleus growth, which inhibited the formation of crystal nuclei to a certain extent, and crystal growth dominated the crystallisation process. Moreover, the addition of ammonium nitrate induced the preferred orientation of the specific crystal plane of ammonium sulfate, and the addition of a small concentration of ammonium nitrate decreased the crystallinity of ammonium sulfate. The research results can provide a reference for crystallisation optimisation and quality improvement of ammonium sulfate in the ammonia desulfurisation process.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Ammonium nitrate
• ammonium sulfate
• solubility
• metastable zone
• influence mechanism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available in [tableshare and figshare] at http://doi.org/.10.1080/09593330.2023.2151344, reference number [22].

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (no. 52264043), the Applied Basic Research Foundation of Yunnan Province (no. 202001AT070029), and the Open Foundation of Key Laboratory of Iron and Steel Metallurgy and Resource Utilization of the Ministry of Education (no. FMRULAB-20-4).