Separation of nickel and iron from lateritic ore using a digestion – roasting – leaching – precipitation process
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Istanbul Technical University, Mining Faculty, Mineral Processing Engineering Department, Istanbul, Turkey |
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Huseyin Basturkcu
Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Mines, Mineral Processing Engineering Department, Istanbul Technical University, Faculty of Mines, Mineral Processing Engineering Dept., 34469 Istanbul, Turkey
Publication date: 2016-06-01
Physicochem. Probl. Miner. Process. 2016;52(2):564–574
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ABSTRACT
This paper investigates extraction of nickel and iron from a lateritic nickel ore from the Caldag region of Manisa in Turkey. The ore sample contains 1.2% Ni, 24.77% Fe and 0.062% Co. The process applied includes digestion with 40 wt-% sulfuric acid at 200 C for 60 min, roasting at 700 C for 15 min, leaching with water for 30 min at 1:5 solid/liquid ratio (by weight) and precipitation of the remaining iron at pH 3 and 60 C. In order to improve nickel and cobalt extractions using the digestion-roasting- leaching-precipitation process (DRLP), Na2SO4 addition in the roasting stage was examined. Under the optimum conditions and in the presence of Na2SO4, 86.2% Ni and 94.2% Co extractions were obtained with almost zero iron content. As a result, 2.07 g dm-3 Ni, 0.12 g dm-3 Co and 0.05 g dm-3 Fe could be achieved in the pregnant leach solution within nearly 2.5 hours.