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Petroleum Geochemical Survey
Published in Muhammad Abdul Quddus, Petroleum Science and Technology, 2021
Phosphate mineral is a salt of phosphoric acid {H3(PO4)}. Phosphate ion (PO4)3– is an isolated tetrahedral coordinated radical. The radical combines with h equivalent positive cations, so that a neutral and stable phosphate mineral is produced. Variable physical properties are witnessed in the phosphate minerals. The mineral is vitreous, dull, with moderate density and average hardness. The phosphorus element in the ion is replaceable by arsenic, vanadium and antimony atoms to produce arsenate (AsO4)3–, vanadate (VO4)3– and antimonite (SbO4)3– minerals. About 200 phosphate minerals are known, often associated with other minerals; halite (Cl, Br and F)–1 and hydroxide (OH)– minerals. Some examples of phosphate minerals are as follows: Amblygonite (lithium, sodium, aluminum fluoride, hydroxide, phosphate).Anapaite (hydrated iron, calcium phosphate).Apatite (calcium chloride, fluoride, hydroxide, phosphate). Chloro-apatite (calcium chloro-phosphate) occurs in soil. It is a source of phosphorus food, consumed by plants. The fluoro-apatite (calcium fluoro-phosphate) mineral is found in animal bone. So the mineral is called ‘biological apatite’.
Phosphate Fertilizer Recycling and Recovery from Phosphate Mine and Mining Waste
Published in Hossain Md Anawar, Vladimir Strezov, Abhilash, Sustainable and Economic Waste Management, 2019
Hossain Md Anawar, Golam Ahmed, Vladimir Strezov
World fertilizer consumption has increased tenfold since 1930 and the global fertilizer consumption growth rate has levelled out with a peak consumption of 37.7 million tonnes of P2O5 in 1988. The increasing trend of phosphate consumption would lead to an annual consumption of around 100 million tonnes of P2O5 in 2050 that is more than three times the current consumption in global agriculture. Phosphate rock can be beneficiated by many methods, and usually a combination of methods. The cost for recovery and beneficiation of phosphate rock increases significantly for the lower grade and lower quality deposit. Phosphate resources have been classified into five major types in the world: (1) marine phosphate deposits, (2) igneous phosphate deposits, (3) metamorphic deposits, (4) biogenic deposits, and (5) phosphate deposits as a result of weathering. The main phosphate minerals are as follows: flour-apatite, hydroxy-apatite, carbonate-hydroxy-apatite, francolite, dahllite and collophane.
Resources and Sustainable Materials
Published in Stanley Manahan, Environmental Chemistry, 2017
Phosphate minerals are of particular importance because of their essential use in the manufacture of fertilizers applied to land to increase crop productivity (see Section 15.8). In addition, phosphorus is used for supplementation of animal feeds, synthesis of detergent formulations, and preparation of chemicals such as pesticides and medicines. Approximately 90% of the world’s known reserves of phosphate are located in or are controlled by five countries: Morocco, Jordan, South Africa, the United States, and China. The most common phosphate minerals are hydroxyapatite, Ca5(PO4)3(OH), and fluorapatite, Ca5(PO4)3F. Ions of Na, Sr, Th, and U are found substituted for calcium in apatite minerals. Small amounts of PO43− may be replaced by AsO43− and the arsenic must be removed for food applications. Approximately 17% of world phosphate production is from igneous minerals, primarily fluorapatites. Approximately three-fourths of world phosphate production is from sedimentary deposits, generally of marine origin. Vast deposits of phosphate, accounting for approximately 5% of world phosphate production, are derived from guano droppings of seabirds and bats. Current US production of phosphate rock is around 33 million metric tons per year, most of it from Florida followed by Idaho, North Carolina, and Utah. Most of the available phosphate ore is of low grade so that its processing generates large quantities of by-product, especially phosphogypsum, of which the major constituent is calcium sulfate contaminated with traces of radioactive radium, metals, and other contaminants. Currently, in the phosphate mining areas of the state of Florida, the world’s largest producer of phosphate, large stacks of waste phosphogypsum are scattered around the terrain, posing a problem and waiting for a solution. Finding safe uses for the more than 200 million metric tons of phosphogypsum generated annually, less than 5% of which is applied to agricultural land, is a substantial challenge to the practice of industrial ecology.8
A review of the geological settings, ages and economic potentials of carbonatites in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Published in Applied Earth Science, 2021
Georges M. Kasay, Anthony T. Bolarinwa, Olawale K. Aromolaran, Charles Nzolang, Vikandy S. Mambo
Apatite is the main phosphate-bearing mineral at Lueshe, and it is estimated at a grade of 7% (Chernoff and Orris, 2002). Phosphate minerals are found in the weathering profiles, where intense alteration dissolve apatite and forms huge quantities of secondary minerals like aluminous phosphates, iron oxides and clays (Nasraoui and Bilal 2000).