Breunnerite, also known as ''

brown spar Brown spar or ''brown-spar'' ()''Krivovichev V. G.'' Mineralogical glossary. Scientific editor :uk:Булах Андрій Глібович, A. G. Bulakh. — St.Petersburg: St.Petersburg Univ. Publ. House. 2009. — 556 p. — ISBN 978-5-288-0486 ...

''礦物學名詞: (俄英中对照試用本) Mineralogical Terminology (Russian-English-Chinese version). — Beijing: 中國科学院. 編譯出版委員会 Compilation and Publication Committee of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1956. — 279 p. () is a variety of

magnesite Magnesite is a mineral with the chemical formula ( magnesium carbonate). Iron, manganese, cobalt, and nickel may occur as admixtures, but only in small amounts. Occurrence Magnesite occurs as veins in and an alteration product of ultramafic r ...

, with a magnesium/iron ratio of 90/10 to 70/30.

Name and history

It has been described by

Wilhelm Karl Ritter von Haidinger Wilhelm Karl Haidinger (5 February 179519 March 1871), ennobled as Wilhelm Ritter von Haidinger in 1864, was an Austrian mineralogist. Early life Haidinger's father was the mineralogist Karl Haidinger (1756–1797), who died when Wilhelm was o ...

in samples of Pfitsch pass, Zamsergrund and , two cities of the

Ziller Valley The Ziller Valley () is a valley in Tyrol, Austria that is drained by the Ziller River. It is the widest valley south of the Inn Valley () and lends its name to the Zillertal Alps, the strongly glaciated section of the Alps in which it lies. The T ...

Tyrol Tyrol ( ; historically the Tyrole; ; ) is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, f ...

, Austria. Haidinger named the new variety of the magnesite in honor of Count Breunner, August Graf
in Mineralienatlas-Fossilienatlas. (sometimes the family name is written as ''Breuner;'' 1796-1877), a famous collector of minerals and fossils, as well as a high-ranking government official of

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe#Before World War I, Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military ...

. In 19th century mineralogy, as well as in mining and among geologists, breunnerite and its close analogues from the isomorphic series

→

siderite Siderite is a mineral composed of iron(II) carbonate (FeCO3). Its name comes from the Ancient Greek word (), meaning "iron". A valuable iron ore, it consists of 48% iron and lacks sulfur and phosphorus. Zinc, magnesium, and manganese commonly ...

were more often known under the capacious morphological name ″

″.Bulletin of the United States National Museum. No.30. Published under the Directions of the Smithsonian Institution. — Washington: Government Printing Office, 1885.

Application

Breunerite is widely used in firing during the formation of raw materials for the subsequent production of

refractories In materials science, a refractory (or refractory material) is a material that is resistant to decomposition by heat or chemical attack and that retains its strength and rigidity at high temperatures. They are inorganic, non-metallic compound ...

. When

magnesium carbonate Magnesium carbonate, (archaic name magnesia alba), is an inorganic salt that is a colourless or white solid. Several hydrated and Base (chemistry), basic forms of magnesium carbonate also exist as minerals. Forms The most common magnesium car ...

, which is part of breunerite, is brought to a temperature of about 600°C, it enters the firing process as a mineralizer, first decomposing and then reacting and forming two main compounds that act as raw materials: 2CaFe₂O₃ и MgOFe₂O₃. Breunerite produces a less pure product than a mixture of magnesia and

iron oxide An iron oxide is a chemical compound composed of iron and oxygen. Several iron oxides are recognized. Often they are non-stoichiometric. Ferric oxyhydroxides are a related class of compounds, perhaps the best known of which is rust. Iron ...

, but is more economical to produce.

References

External links

{{Commons category, Breunnerite
Breunnerite
a variety of Magnesite: information about the mineral breunnerite in the database Mindat.
Breunnerite
in database Mineralienatlas
Breunnerite
Sevastopol stone museum. Magnesium minerals Iron(II) minerals Carbonate minerals