Synthesis of calcium silicate as paper filler with desirable particle size from desilication solution of silicon-containing waste residues

Resource utilization of silicon is crucial to the sustainable reuse of the silicon-containing waste residues. In this study, a simple method to synthesize calcium silicate as paper filler with desirable particle size from the residues was proposed. Foil-shaped calcium silicate with the average particle size (APS) of about 10 μm and the span of below 1.2 was successfully synthesized. Compared with larger calcium silicate, the obtained product used as paper filler could greatly improve the bulk of paper while maintaining similar tensile strength. The online focused beam reflectance measurement (FBRM) was used to investigate the hydration of CaO and the formation of calcium silicate. It was found that the hydration of CaO in NaOH solution with the presence of silicate played a key role in synthesizing the 10 μm-sized calcium silicate. The formation of calcium silicate was speculated to be controlled by a liquid-liquid reaction.