Removal of silicon from green liquor with low-temperature precausticizing

Nonwood materials contain a high percentage of silicon, which causes numerous problems in the chemical recovery section. Researchers previously proposed the method of silicon removal by two-stage causticizing at temperatures of 90ºC to 95ºC, finding that the desilication rate was about 72.9% and the causticizing efficiency was 22.7% when 30% of the causticizing quicklime (calcium oxide; CaO) was added. The present paper deals with the desilication of green liquor recovered from wheat straw black liquor by a low-temperature precausticization method. The results showed that about 89.3% silicon removal and 10.3% causticizing efficiency were achieved under the following precausticizing conditions: added lime amount of 20%, temperature of 20ºC, and reaction time of 60 min. While precausticizing at 90ºC with the same lime amount, only about 63.5% silicon removal and 13.0% causticizing efficiency were gained. Therefore, precausticizing with low temperature was beneficial for silicon removal and retention of carbonate (CO3 2-).