Study on synergistic leaching of potassium and phosphorus from potassium feldspar and solid waste phosphogypsum via coupling reactions

To achieve the resource utilization of solid waste phosphogypsum (PG) and tackle the problem of utilizing potassium feldspar (PF), a coupled synergistic process between PG and PF is proposed in this paper. The study investigates the features of P and F in PG, and explores the decomposition of PF using hydrofluoric acid (HF) in the sulfuric acid system for K leaching and leaching of P and F in PG. The impact factors such as sulfuric acid concentration, reaction temperature, reaction time, material ratio (PG/PF), liquid–solid ratio, PF particle size, and PF calcination temperature on the leaching of P and K is systematically investigated in this paper. The results show that under optimal conditions, the leaching rate of K and P reach more than 93% and 96%, respectively. Kinetics study using shrinking core model (SCM) indicates two significant stages with internal diffusion predominantly controlling the leaching of K. The apparent activation energies of these two stages are 11.92 kJ·mol⁻¹ and 11.55 kJ·mol⁻¹, respectively.