Study on fluoride emission from soils at high temperature related to brick-making process

Characteristics of fluoride emission from 12 soils at temperatures of 400–1100 °C related to the brick-making process were studied. The results obtained in this study indicate that fluoride emission as gaseous HF and SiF4 was related to the firing temperature, soil total fluoride content, soil composition and calcium compounds added to soils. Soils began to release fluoride at temperatures between 500 and 700 °C. Marked increases of the average fluoride mission rate from 57.2% to 85.4% of soil total fluoride were noticed as the heating temperature was increased from 700 to 1100 °C. It was found that the major proportion (over 50%) of the soil total fluoride was emitted from soils at approximate 800 °C. The amount of fluoride released into the atmosphere when heated depended on the total fluoride contents in the soils. Correlation analysis showed that the soil composition, such as cation exchange capacity, exchangeable calcium and CaCO3, had some influence on fluoride emission below 900 °C, but had no influence at temperatures above 900 °C. Addition of four calcium compounds (CaO, CaCO3, Ca(OH)2, and CaSO4) at 1.5% by weight raised the temperature at which fluoride began to be released to 700 °C. The greatest decrease in fluoride emission among the four calcium compound treatments was found with CaCO3.