Precipitation of calcium carbonate particles by gas-liquid reaction: Morphology and size distribution of particles in Couette-Taylor and stirred tank reactors

The morphology and size of CaCO3 precipitated by CO2-Ca(OH)2 reaction in stirred tank and Couette-Taylor reactors were experimentally investigated. The Taylor vortex in CT reactor encouraged more homogeneous mixing conditions, resulting in the production of smaller particles with a uniform shape throughout the reactor. However, in the stirred tank reactor, the local non-homogeneity of the mixing intensity led to the simultaneous production of cube-like and spindle-like particles at a high reactant concentration. The agglomeration of CaCO3 resulted in a bimodal size distribution. However, the morphology and size of a single particle were predominantly changed by the excess species in the solution. The largest mean size and cube-like particles were observed under stoichiometric reaction conditions. As the excess species concentration increased, the morphology was transformed to a spindle-like shape and the mean size decreased due to selective adsorption of the excess species on the crystal faces.