Ds. Rossiter et al., THE MECHANISM OF SODIUM GLUCONATE POISONING OF GIBBSITE PRECIPITATION, Chemical engineering research & design, 74(A7), 1996, pp. 828-834
Sodium gluconate was used as a model compound in the poisoning of gibb
site precipitation from caustic aluminate solutions. Experiments were
performed to examine the relationship of seed surface area and sodium
gluconate dose to the Induction period and precipitation rate, The res
ults suggest that growth rate suppression is a surface process and tha
t it results from a reduction in the available surface area and not fr
om a change in surface activity. The mechanism of poisoning was inferr
ed from SEM micrographs, and by using measurements of the growth rate
and induction period for both poisoned and unpoisoned gibbsite precipi
tations.