Date of Defense
4-19-2022
Date of Graduation
4-2022
Department
Chemical and Paper Engineering
First Advisor
James Springstead
Second Advisor
Matthew Stoops
Abstract
Our company sponsor is a mineral-based company which has locations worldwide. The company produces a wide range of products starting from minerals like calcium carbonate, food and beverage, pharmaceuticals and many more. It has a precipitated calcium carbonate, (PCC plant) in Maine that uses lime, as a raw material for processing. There are two byproduct streams that are generated in this plant that give rise to significant disposal costs. Our project was to understand if these materials could be used for an alternate purpose to eliminate haulage costs and even generate additional revenues. The two bases of the project were that more than half of the content of the cake sample is calcium oxide and that the grit sample is primarily composed of portlandite which is calcium hydroxide. Therefore, the suggested uses of the streams direct toward the use of those two substances.
The first suggested use of cake is to recycle the stream back into the process and the second is to use it as anthropogenic contamination treatment of water. The first suggested use of grit is to sell it to markets that produce concrete and the next alternative is to use portlandite, which is calcium hydroxide, to combat infectious diseases in livestock at farms. The tests performed in the laboratory were mostly characterization and/or analytical tests.
Our economic analysis markers are subject to two different cases. In the first case, using 100% of the cake and grit streams as untreated, we can have a total profit of 2.071 million USD annually, given that a pump is purchased and installed. In the second case, 784,968 USD will be the annual profit assuming that there is an initial limestone cost of 10 million per year. The scope of the project is limited to assumptions which are outlined in Section 11.0 Economic Analysis of the report.
Recommended Citation
Reeves, Matthew, "Evaluation of the Economic Repurpose of Grit and Cake Waste in a Precipitated Calcium Carbonate Plant" (2022). Honors Theses. 3540.
https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/honors_theses/3540
Access Setting
Honors Thesis-Restricted