Continuous changes in electrical conductivity of sodium aluminate solution in seeded precipitation

The mechanism of seeded precipitation of sodium aluminate solution was studied by measuring the seeded-precipitation rate and electrical conductivity online, as well as calculating the activity and fraction of ion pair. The results show that the electrical conductivity of sodium aluminate slurry linearly decreases with increasing aluminum hydroxide addition. Moreover, both the electrical conductivity of slurry and the difference in electrical conductivity between sodium aluminate solution and slurry remarkably decline in the first 60 min before gradually increasing in the preliminary 10 h and finally reaching almost the same level after 10 h. In low Na2O concentration solution the activities of NaOH and NaAl(OH)4 in seeded precipitation are high, which can enlarge the difference in conductivity between slurry and solution. Additionally, more ion pairs exist in solution in preliminary seeded precipitation, and the adsorption of Na+Al(OH)4- on seed surface is likely to break the equilibrium of ion pair formation and to decrease the difference in conductivity in preliminary seeded precipitation.