Kinetic Behavior of Ca²⁺ Ions During the Dissolution of Colemanite in Propionic Acid Solutions

The leading commercial boron reserves in Türkiye are colemanite, tincal, and ulexite. The Colemanite ore, a calcium borate mineral, has the richest composition in terms of boron trioxide (B2O3). Boric acid, with its high B2O3 content, is the basic raw material in the production of boron compounds in industry. The use of boron and boron derivatives is increasing in today's industry. The boron minerals to be used must be obtained in pure form. Dissolving colemanite in propionic acid prevents the formation of impurities and produces a commercially important by-product This study, conducted on the dissolution kinetics of colemanite in propionic acid solutions, shows that parameters reaction temperature, acid concentration, solid-liquid ratio, and particle size significantly affect the dissolution rate and that the dissolution efficiency can be increased by optimizing these parameters. These findings are compatible with other studies in the literature and provide important contributions to research on the dissolution kinetics of colemanite in different acid solutions. As a result, it has been observed that stirring speed has no effect in most of these studies on dissolution kinetics of colemanite in different acid solutions. It has been established that the dissolution rate typically rises with elevated temperatures, diminished particle size, and reduced solid-liquid ratio. These results, in which the dissolution process mostly depends on diffusion control and the activation energy is calculated, are consistent with the findings obtained in propionic acid solutions. The activation energy (E) was found to be 36.56 kj/mol.