Articles
  • Current status and challenges in co-production of sulphuric acid and Portland cement from phosphogypsum

  • Xiaoling Maa, Hongbin Tana,*, Yassine Tahab, Faqin Dongc, Feihua Yangd, Kaiwen Lia, Zhihong Jianga and Chenggang Xue

  • aSchool of Materials Science and Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang 621010, China
    bMining Environment and Circular Economy, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Lot 660, Hay Moulay Rachid, Ben Guerir 43150, Morocco
    cKey Laboratory of Solid Waste Treatment and Resource Recycle, Ministry Education, Mianyang 621010, China
    dBeijing Building Materirals Sciences Research Institute Co., Ltd, Beijing 100041, China
    eSichuan Diwei Technology Co., Ltd, Mianyang 621010, China

  • This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Phosphogypsum (PG) is a by-product of the wet-process phosphoric acid industry. Co-production process of Portland cement and sulfuric acid from phosphogypsum can realize its resource utilization, sulfur cycle and reduce carbon dioxide emission. The decomposition temperature of gypsum can be reduced using coal as reducing agent, which is beneficial to reduce energy consumption. It will be interesting to produce high-strength-low-calcium Portland (LCP) cement by using phosphogypsum as raw materials. The early strength of the cement can be improved by stabilizing the high temperature structure of dicalcium silicate, changing the hydration environment and adopting carbonation curing. The cement can be manufactured by the equipment of Portland cement industry. The sulfuric acid can be produce with the SO2 flue gases by conventional acid manufacturing process. The CO2 emission is 446.4 Kg per tonne cement by using PG, which can realize sustainable development of phosphorus chemical and cement industry.


Keywords: Phosphogypsum, Precalcining, Sulfuric acid, Low calcium Portland cement, Carbonation curing, CO2 emission.

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Research Fund of the Sichuan Science and Technology Program (2025ZDZX0019), Mianyang Science and Technology Program (2025ZYDF027) and Opening Project of Key Laboratory of Solid Waste Treatment and Resource Recycle, Ministry of Education (20kfgk01, 21kfgk01).

This Article

  • 2025; 26(6): 1104-1110

    Published on Dec 31, 2025

  • 10.36410/jcpr.2025.26.6.1104
  • Received on May 20, 2025
  • Revised on Oct 29, 2025
  • Accepted on Oct 30, 2025

Correspondence to

  • Hongbin Tan

  • School of Materials Science and Engineering, Southwest University of Science and Technology, Mianyang 621010, China
    Tel / Fax: +86 816 2419201

  • E-mail: hb-t@163.com