HIGH-SPEED RECYCLING PROCESS FOR PHOSPATE INDUSTRY WASTE

AS A BY-PRODUCT OF U.S. PHOSPHATE FERTILIZER PRODUCTION, 43 MILLION TONS/YEAR OF WASTE PHOSPHOGYPSUM ARE PRODUCED. SULFUR, COSTING PHOSPHATE PRODUCERS $880 MILLION/YEAR, IS LOCKED IN THIS PHOSPHOGYPSUM WASTE, WHICH IS DUMPED IN LANDFILL. SCIENCE VENTURES HAS BEEN EXPERIMENTING WITH A NEW HIGH-SPEED CHEMICAL PROCESS TO SOLVE THIS MAJOR ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEM. THE FLASC PROCESS WOULD RECYCLE THE SULFUR AS CONCENTRATED SO2 AND REDUCE THE SOLID RESIDUE TO ENVIRONMENTALLY BENIGN GLASSY SLAG, SUITABLE AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR ROCK IN CONCRETE. THE FLASC PROCESS SPRAYS PHOSPHOGYPSUM TOGETHER WITH SMALLER AMOUNTS OF OTHER SOLIDS INTO A HIGH-TEMPERATURE FLAME. SULFUR DIOXIDE IS RELEASED AND THE CONDENSED RESIDUE MELTS TO FORM A SLAG WHICH DRAINS FROM THE REACTOR. CONVERSION IS COMPLETE IN SECONDS, COMPARED TO AN HOUR OR SOWITH OLDER RECYCLING ATTEMPTS, GIVING THIS CONCEPT ECONOMIC ADVANTAGES. PREVIOUS LAB TESTING HAS SHOWN PROMISE, AND SCIENCE VENTURES HAS BEEN FUNDED BY A FLORIDA STATE AGENCY TO BUILD BENCH SCALE TEST EQUIPMENT, BUT FUNDS ARE NOT AVAILABLE TO OPERATE IT. PHASE I WORK WILL CONDUCT A PRELIMINARY SERIES OF BENCH-SCALE TESTS. IF PHASE II IS FUNDED, IT WILL COMPLETE THE TEST SERIES, DO COMPUTER MODELING, AND MAKE ECONOMIC PROJECTIONS.