Hydration of medium reactive industrial magnesium oxide with magnesium acetate

Medium reactive magnesium oxide reacts incompletely with available water to form magnesium hydroxide. To enhance the hydration of medium reactive magnesium oxide, the effect of magnesium acetate as hydrating agent was studied. The extent to which different parameters (concentration of magnesium acetate, solution temperature and solid to liquid ratio of MgO to magnesium acetate) influence the hydration rate of a medium reactive industrial sample of magnesium oxide were evaluated. The degree of rehydration measured as percentage Mg(OH)₂being formed, increases from approximately 56% using 0.5 M magnesium acetate solutions at 25°C to 64% at 50°C, to more than 70% at 70°C. The major part of rehydration of the medium reactive MgO sample occurs within the first few minutes of the reaction for all three temperatures studied. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.