TY - CONF A1 - Stawski, Tomasz A1 - Karafiludis, Stephanos A1 - Pimentel, C. A1 - Montes Hernandez, G A1 - Kochovski, Z A1 - Bienert, Ralf A1 - Weimann, Karin A1 - Emmerling, Franziska A1 - Scoppola, E A1 - Van Driessche, A T1 - Solution-driven processing of calcium sulfate: the mechanism of the reversible transformation of gypsum to bassanite in brines N2 - Calcium sulfate hemihydrate (CaSO4ᐧ0.5H2O), also known as bassanite, has been used as a precursor to produce gypsum (dihydrate, CaSO4ᐧ2H2O) for various construction and decorative purposes since prehistoric times. The main route to obtain hemihydrate is a thermal treatment of gypsum at temperatures typically between 150 °C and 200 °C to remove some of the structural water. In this contribution, we introduce (Fig. 1) a more efficient and sustainable method (T < 100 °C) that enables the direct, rapid, and reversibly conversion of gypsum to bassanite using reusable high salinity aqueous solutions (brines with c[NaCl] > 4 M). The optimum conditions for the efficientproduction of bassanite in a short time (< 5 min) involve the use of brines with c(NaCl) > 4 M and maintaining a temperature, T > 80 °C. When the solution containing bassanite crystals is cooled down to around room temperature, eventually gypsum is formed. When the temperature is raised again to T > 80 °C, bassanite is rapidly re-precipitated. This contrasts with the typical behaviour of the bassanite phase in low salt environments. Traditionally, hemihydrate is obtained through a solid state thermal treatment because bassanite is considered to be metastable with respect to gypsum and anhydrite in aqueous solutions, and therefore gypsum-to-bassanite conversion should not occur in water. Its very occurrence actually contradicts numerical thermodynamic predictions regarding solubility of calcium sulfate phases. By following the evolution of crystalline phases with in situ and time-resolved X-ray diffraction/scattering and Raman spectroscopy, we demonstrated that the phase stability in brines at elevated temperatures is inaccurately represented in the thermodynamic databases. Most notably for c(NaCl) > 4 M, and T > 80 °C gypsum becomes readily more soluble than bassanite, which induces the direct precipitation of the latter from gypsum. The fact that these transformations are controlled by the solution provides extensive opportunities for precise manipulation of crystal formation. Our experiments confirmed that bassanite remained the sole crystalline structure for many hours before reverting into gypsum. This property is extremely advantageous for practical processing and efficient crystal extraction in industrial scenarios. T2 - Granada Münster Discussion Meeting GMDM 10 CY - Münster, Germany DA - 29.11.2023 KW - Gypsum KW - Bassanite KW - Calcium sulfate KW - Recycling KW - Scattering PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-59162 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -