Recovery and Refining Process of Gypsum from Waste Plaster Board

This study was conducted to obtain granular crystalline gypsum that can be used as raw material for Plaster boards or cements from waste Plaster board. Gypsum could be Preferentially disintegrated to gypsum needle in <TEX>$10mu extrm{m}$</TEX> or less size by hydration after the dehydration of crushed waste Plaster board. The finer the gypsum needle, it is easier to remove coarse impurities and to recover the gypsum needle. The optimum conditions for obtain the finer gypsum size were dehydration rate of 75~85%, solid concentration at hydration of 10~15%, agitation speed of 250~400 rpm, crushing size before dehydration of 2 cm or less. Gypsum of 98.21% grade was recovered with 99.0% yield as the undersize of 325 mesh wet screening followed by the dehydration-hydration process performed at the conditions of dehydration rate of 80%, solid concentration at hydration of 15%, agitation speed of 300 rpm, crushing size before dehydration of 2 cm or less. After the recrystallization of recovered gypsum, Plate-like gypsum of <TEX>$151mu extrm{m}$</TEX> size with 99.49% grade was obtained as the oversize of 270 mesh in a wet screening.