Physical and chemical effects of direct aqueous advanced oxidation processing on green sand foundry mold materials

Iron foundries using the common green sand molding process have increasingly been incorporating aqueous advanced oxidation (AO) systems to reduce the consumption of sand system bentonite clay and coal raw materials by and to decrease their volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions. These AO systems typically use a combination of sonication, ozone aeration, and hydrogen peroxide to treat and recycle slurries of sand system baghouse dust, which is rich in clay and coal. While the overall effects of AO on raw material consumption and organic emissions are known, the mechanisms behind these effects are not well understood. This research examined the effects of bench-scale direct aqueous AO processing on green sand mold materials at the micro level.; Bench-scale AO processing, including acoustic sonication, ozone/oxygen aeration, and hydrogen peroxide dramatically decreased the particle sizes of both western bentonite and foundry sand system baghouse dust. Bench-scale AO processing was shown to effectively separate the clay material from the larger silica and coal particles and to extensively break up the larger clay agglomerates. The acoustic sonication component of AO processing was the key contributor to enhanced clay recovery. Acoustic sonication alone was slightly more effective than combined component AO in reducing the particle sizes of the baghouse dust and in the recovery of clay yields in the supernatant during sedimentation experiments. Sedimentation separation results correlated well with the increase in small particle concentrations due to AO processing.; Clay suspension viscosity decreased with AO processing due to enhanced dispersion of the particles. X-ray diffraction of freeze-dried baghouse dust indicated that AO processing does not rehydrate calcined montmorillonite and does not increase the level of interlayer water hydration in the dry clays. Zeta potential measurements indicated that AO processing also does not produce any large changes in the surface charge of the small clay particles upon AO treatment.