Master Degree / Yüksek Lisans Tezleri
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/11147/3008
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Master Thesis Kinetics of Silica Polymerization at Various Conditions(01. Izmir Institute of Technology, 2022) Hasköylü Toker, Öykü Çağ; Demir, Mustafa Muammer; Baba, AlperSilica is the most abundant element on Earth because the Earth's crust is composed mainly of metal silicates. The source of this silica is mainly volcanic rocks, which come to the surface through tectonic activity and are the primary source of heat for geothermal activity. The silica concentration in a geothermal fluid is higher than the solubility limit of natural waters, so scaling of (metal) silicates is often observed in geothermal operations. This situation has become critical for geothermal power plants. Since silicates have an insulating structure, they lead to a reduction in energy efficiency during fluid transport. The formation of silica-rich deposits should be understood to minimize the negative effects of the scaling. Briefly, silicic acid molecules in the reservoir system are condensed, and the monomeric silicic acid molecules bind to each other via covalent bonds. In the course of this reaction, dimers, tetramers and short oligomers are formed, and eventually a large polymeric silica network is formed. In the presence of metals, both the kinetics of polymerization and the structure of the network are inevitably affected. In this study, the presence of kinetic parameters (different salts such as FeCl3, MgCl2, AlCl3 and NaCl), the reaction process, the rate and the activation energy of silica polymerization at different temperatures between 25 and 90 °C were investigated. The yellow silicomolybdate method was used to determine the concentration of monomeric silica. The order of the polymerization reaction was given as 3. The polymerization occurs in the initial phase, in the first 40 minutes, where the activation energy was about 29.52 ± 2.28 kJ/mol and the rate constant was of the order of 4x10-8 mol-2∙L2∙s-1. The results also confirmed that pH has a stronger effect on the kinetics of silica polymerization than temperature. The neutral solution decreases rapidly, while the acidic solution has an induction phase in the first hour of polymerization. Different temperatures did not affect the polymerization rate as much as pH. At 25°C the experiment showed the fastest polymerization, but at 90°C the low concentration changed from the beginning. During all these experiments, no scaling of amorphous silica was observed, only the polymerization of silica.