Various morphologies of magnesium carbonate hydrate had been synthesized without using any organic additives by carefully adjusting the reaction temperature and time during the talc carbonation process. At lower temperatures, magnesium carbonate hydrate was prone to display needle-like morphology. With the further increase of the carbonation temperature, the sheet-like crystallites became the preferred morphology, and at higher aging temperatures, these crystallites tended to assemble into layer-like structures with diverse morphologies, such as rose-like particles and nest-like structure. The reaction time had no effect on the crystal morphology, but it affected the particle size and situation of the crystal growth. X-Ray diffraction results showed that these various morphologies were closely related to their crystal structure and compositions. The needle-like magnesium carbonate hydrate had a formula of MgCO₃·3H₂O, whereas with the morphological transformation from needle-like to sheet-like, rose-like, and nest-like structure, their corresponding compositions also changed from MgCO₃·3H₂O to 4MgCO₃·Mg(OH)₂·8H₂O, 4MgCO₃·Mg(OH)₂·5H₂O, and 4MgCO₃·Mg(OH)₂·4H₂O.

In this study, a procedure for producing calcium carbonate whisker through yellow phosphorus slag carbonation without adding any crystal control agents was proposed. The influence of process parameters on the crystal phase and morphology of the product was discussed. The content of aragonite in the product was more than 90% under optimal conditions. The whiteness of the product was 97.6%. The diameter of a single particle was about 1.5–3 μm, and the length of a single particle was about 8–40 μm. Various polymorphs and morphologies of CaCO₃ could be formed by adjusting the production conditions. The by-products produced during the whole preparation process could also be reused. The whole preparation process of fibrous aragonite from yellow phosphorus slag without using any chemical additives was also proposed. These indicated that the production strategy had a good application prospect.

A simple and efficient approach for the high-purity CaSO₄·2H₂O (DH) whiskers and α-CaSO₄·0.5H₂O (α-HH) whiskers derived from such phosphogypsum (PG) was proposed. The impact of different experimental parameters on supersaturated dissolution–recrystallization and preparation processes of α-CaSO₄·0.5H₂O was elaborated. At 3.5 mol/L HCl concentration, the dissolution temperature and time were 90 °C and 20 min, respectively. After eight cycles and 5–8 times cycles, total crystallization amount of CaSO₄·2H₂O was 21.75 and 9.97 g/100 mL, respectively, from supersaturated HCl solution. The number of cycles affected the shape and amount of the crystal. Higher HCl concentration facilitated CaSO₄·2H₂O dissolution and created a much higher supersaturation, which acted as a larger driving force for phase transformation of CaSO₄·2H₂O to α-CaSO₄·0.5H₂O. The HCl solution system’s optimum experimental conditions for HH whiskers preparation involved acid leaching of CaSO₄·2H₂O sample, with HCl concentration 6.0 mol/L, reaction temperature 80 °C, and reaction time 30 min–60 min. Under the third cycle conditions, α-CaSO₄·0.5H₂O whiskers were uniform in size, clear, and distinct in edges and angles. The length range of α-CaSO₄·0.5H₂O whiskers was from 106 μm to 231 μm and diameter range from 0.43 μm to 1.35 μm, while the longest diameter ratio was 231. Purity of α-CaSO₄·0.5H₂O whiskers was approximately 100%, where whiteness reached 98.6%. The reuse of the solution enables the process to discharge no waste liquid. It provides a new reference direction for green production technology of phosphogypsum.

The expansion of vermiculite using microwave irradiation is an environmentally friendly and efficient method that can enhance the material’s adsorption performance. This study investigated the microwave irradiation of vermiculite with five different particle sizes (4/2/1/0.5/0.2 mm) and found that the adsorption capacity for Pb²⁺ increased with larger particle sizes. The equilibrium adsorption capacity reached 15.98 mg/g at 4 mm, representing a 45.01% improvement compared to 0.2 mm. The pseudo-second-order kinetic model effectively described the adsorption kinetics. No significant differences were observed in the specific surface area and pore size distribution of all samples. Thermogravimetric quantitative analysis revealed that larger particle sizes retained interlayer water more effectively. As the particle size decreased, the interlayer water content generally showed a decreasing trend. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analysis also indicated that the -OH groups in larger particle sizes exhibited higher stability. The results suggest that the high content and stability of -OH groups may be key factors in the enhanced adsorption performance for Pb²⁺. This provides new insights for the preparation of environmentally friendly adsorbent materials rich in hydroxyl groups.