Process for producing HF from impure phosphoric acids

摘要

Substantially calcium-free fluoroaluminum phosphate precipitate (which also contains iron) can be produced by the aging of wet process phosphoric acid containing iron, fluorine and aluminum, preferably phosphoric acid analyzing in the range of about 15%-45 weight percent P2O5, 2-4% Al2O3 and 1-2% fluorine. One process involves digestion of phosphate ore matrix in recycled phosphoric acid, filtration to remove the insoluble residue, precipitation and filtration to remove gypsum, and aging of the product acid to precipitate the aluminum impurity as a fluoroaluminum phosphate compound. The fluoroaluminum phosphate can be decomposed (as by heating at about 195 DEG C.) to produce HF and aluminum phosphate.