Use of Waste Glass Cullet and Nepheline Syenite in The Development of Wall Linings for Petrochemical Reactors: Suitability and Comparative Studies

The research focus on the use of glass cullet (GW) and nepheline syenite (NS) in the development of linings for petrochemical reactors walls. The ash used was rice husk ash (RHA) obtained from rice husk after burning at 7000C. The Chemical profile of GW and NS were evaluated using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) and result obtained showed lower percentage of SiO2 (56.23%) in NS than in GW (71.13%). The physical tests showed higher flexural strength (FS) of ?35mpa for GW linings (RHAGW) which was within the ISO 13006 B1a standard at 11000C. Thermal conductivity values were higher for NS linings (RHANS) (0.32 – 1.98w/mK) than RHAGW (0.22 – 1.91) which is probably due to more closure of pores, higher content of Fe2O3 and conductive metallic impurities making NS very unsuitable for linings production. Thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) showed higher weight loss with RHANS (26%) than with RHAGW (17%) making only RHAGW suitable for production of linings. The X-ray diffractogram (XRD) shows the presence of quartz and mullite while RHANS showed the presence of microcline, albite hermatite, andalusite, orthoclase and nepheline. Results obtained showed that GW formulations gave better porcelain linings suitable for corrosion resistant reactors