Kinetic and energetic aspects of the reaction between sodium carbonate and lateritic kaolinite

This study reports some kinetic and energetic considerations of the firing of a mixture of a kaolinite laterite with sodium carbonate as a precursor for geopolymerization. The variation of the firing temperature, the sodium carbonate/kaolinite ratio and the mixing way, show that, for a sodium carbonate/kaolinite ratio of 1.5, the reaction kinetic is optimal at 660 °C with a reaction progress of 80 %. Previous mixing with water and previous firing of the kaolinite soil slowdown the reaction. For firing at 660 °C, an attempt to evaluate the energy consumption was done and it is found that, for the preparation of 1 kg of precursor, the energy consumption is 216 kJ.