Study by DTA/TG of the formation of calcium aluminate obtained from an aluminium hazardous waste

A Spanish hazardous waste from tertiary aluminium industry was used as a raw material for the synthesis of calcium aluminate. An amorphous precursor was obtained by a hydrothermal method at different values of pH. The transformation of the precursor in a crystalline aluminate was followed by TG/DTA up to 1300 C. At temperatures between 719 and 744 C, the precursors evolve towards the formation of C12A7 which becomes CA at circa 1016 C. Mass spectrometry coupled to thermal analyser allowed the identification of the decomposition productsMEC for financing project CTM2005-01964 and the company Recuperaciones y Reciclajes Roman S.L. (Fuenlabrada, Madrid, Spain) for supplying the waste and Dr. M. I. Martı´n for the FRX analysis and Dr. I. Padilla for the technical assistance. Laura Delgado-Gonzalo is grateful to the CSIC (Spanish National Research Council) for an I3P contractPeer reviewe