Hydrodynamic Cavitation-Assisted Synthesis of Nanocalcite

Abstract

A systematic study was made on the synthesis of nanocalcite using a hydrodynamic cavitation reactor. The effects of various parameters such as diameter and geometry of orifice,<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:msub><mml:mtext>CO</mml:mtext><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:msub></mml:math>flow rate, and<mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mtext>Ca</mml:mtext><mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mo>(</mml:mo><mml:mrow><mml:mtext>OH</mml:mtext></mml:mrow><mml:mo>)</mml:mo></mml:mrow><mml:mn>2</mml:mn></mml:msub></mml:math>concentration were investigated. It was observed that the orifice diameter and its geometry had significant effect on the carbonation process. The reaction rate was significantly faster than that observed in a conventional carbonation process. The particle size was significantly affected by the reactor geometry. The results showed that an orifice with 5 holes of 1 mm size resulted in the particle size reduction to 37 nm. The experimental investigation reveals that hydrodynamic cavitation may be more energy efficient.