Efficient separation of alumina and silica in reduction-roasted kaolin by alkali leaching

Alkali leaching was employed to investigate the separation of alumina and silica in roasted kaolin obtained by roasting kaolin alone in air at 1273 K for 60 min and in clinker prepared by roasting the mixed raw meal of kaolin,ferric oxide and coal powder with Fe2O3/Al2O3/C molar ratio of 1.2:2.0:1.2 in reducing atmosphere at 1373 K for 60 min.The thermodynamic analyses and alkali leaching results show that the composition of the Al-Si spinel in roasted kaolin is close to that of 3Al2O3·2SiO2 and the spinel is dissolved with increasing leaching time,resulting in difficulty in deeply separating alumina and silica in kaolin by the traditional roasting-leaching process.On the contrary,the efficient separation of alumina and silica in kaolin can be reached by fully converting kaolinite into insoluble hercynite and soluble free silica,namely quartz solid solution and cristobalite solid solution,during reduction roasting,followed by alkali leaching of the obtained clinker.Furthermore,experimental results from treating high-silica diasporic bauxite indicate that the reduction roasting-alkali leaching process is potential to separate silica and alumina in aluminosilicates.

Physicochemical and environmental characteristics of alkali leaching residue of wolframite and process for valuable metals recovery

Physicochemical and mineralogical characteristics of an alkali leaching residue of wolframite were studied by XRD,SEM−EDS,chemical phase analysis,mineral liberation analyzer(MLA),and TG−DSC methods.Batch leaching tests,toxicity characteristic leaching procedure(TCLP)tests and Chinese standard leaching tests(CSLT)were conducted to determine the environmental mobility of toxic elements.The results show that,due to the high contents of W,Fe,Mn,Sn,and Nb,the residue is with high resource value,but the content of a toxic element,As,is also high.The existing minerals of the investigated elements mainly occur as monomer particles,but it is difficult to extract these valuable metals by conventional acid leaching due to their mineral properties.The release of As increases over time in acidic environment.The leaching concentration of all investigated harmful elements through TCLP is within the limiting value,while the leaching concentration of As through CSLT exceeds the limiting value by more than 4 times,so the residue is classified as hazardous solid waste based on the Chinese standard.A process for valuable metals recovery from this residue was proposed.Preliminary experimental results indicated that the main valuable metals could be extracted effectively.

Recovery of molybdenum from residues by simultaneous ultrafine milling and alkali leaching

A new technology of treating molybdenum residues by simultaneous ultrafine milling and alkali leaching was put forward to recover molybdenum from metallurgical residues. The effects of residue size, milling time, solid content, n (Na 2CO 3)/ n (Mo) and slurry pH value on molybdenum leaching rate were investigated. The results indicate that a simpler process, lower slurry temperature, 50% shorter treating time, 60% decrease of Na 2CO 3 content and 15% increase of molybdenum leaching rate can be obtained by the new technology compared with the traditional process. The leaching kinetic equation was determined, and calculation of active energy ( E =56.2 kJ/mol) shows that the leaching process of molybdenum residues by simultaneous ultrafine milling and alkali leaching is controlled by chemical reaction. Potential exists for the new process to form the basis for an economically viable, environmentally friendly process to recover valuable elements from residues.

Process engineering of demineralisation of moderate to high ash Indian coals through NaOH‑HCl leaching and HF leaching

Chemical leaching of coals would be required to produce cleaner coals for some special applications where physical benefi-ciation may not be effective enough.This would also help in recovering Li and rare earth metals besides in the sequestration of CO_(2).About 20 Indian coals having complexly distributed moderate to high ash contents were sequentially treated with various alkali–acid such as NaOH-HCl,HF,HCl,HCl-HF,and NaOH-HCl-HF leaching.This aimed to establish and design the best stepwise sequential process for the highest degree of demineralisation through a chemical leaching process.Kinetics and process intensification studies were carried out.More than 80%demineralisation of Madhaipur and Neemcha coals was observed using the best sequential treatment designed presently.The repeated stepwise treatment of the alkali and the acid was also studied,which was found to significantly enhance the degree of demineralisation of coals.The integrated process of alkali–acid leaching followed by solvent extraction(Organo-refining)and vice versa of the treated coal was also studied for producing cleaner coals.

Leaching kinetics of fluorine during the aluminum removal from spent Li-ion battery cathode materials

The high content of aluminum(Al)impurity in the recycled cathode powder seriously affects the extraction efficiency of Nickel,Cobalt,Manganese,and Lithium resources and the actual commercial value of recycled materials,so Al removal is crucially important to conform to the industrial standard of spent Li-ion battery cathode materials.In this work,we systematically investigated the leaching process and optimum conditions associated with Al removal from the cathode powder materials collected in a wet cathode-powder peeling and recycling production line of spent Li-ion batteries(LIBs).Moreover,we specifically studied the leaching of fluorine(F)synergistically happened along with the removal process of Al,which was not concerned about in other studies,but one of the key factors affecting pollution prevention in the recovery process.The mechanism of the whole process including the leaching of Al and F from the cathode powder was indicated by using NMR,FTIR,and XPS,and a defluoridation process was preliminarily investigated in this study.The leaching kinetics of Al could be successfully described by the shrinking core model,controlled by the diffusion process and the activation energy was 11.14 kJ/mol.While,the leaching of F was attributed to the dissolution of LiPF6and decomposition of PVDF,and the kinetics associated was described by Avrami model.The interaction of Al and F is advantageous to realize the defluoridation to some degree.It is expected that our investigation will provide theoretical support for the large-scale recycling of spent LIBs.

Determination of arsenic speciation in secondary zinc oxide and arsenic leachability

The species of arsenic in secondary zinc oxide generated from fuming furnace were investigated. The results revealed that there are mainly three types of secondary zinc oxide based on three arsenic species. The main phase of As is As2O3 in type Ⅰ, zinc arsenite （Zn（AsO2）2） in type Ⅱ and lead arsenate （Pb（As206）, Pb4As2O9） in type Ⅲ, respectively. Selective leaching of zinc oxide of type Ⅱ was carried out. The leaching rate of As kept at 65%-70% with 30 g/L NaOH and L/S ratio of 3 at 20 ℃ for 1 h, while the losses of Pb and Zn were both below 1%.

An Innovative Approach to Separate Iron Oxide Concentrate from High-sulfur and Low-grade Pyrite Cinders

High-sulfur and low-grade pyrite cinders are the waste products of sulfuric acid manufacturing plants.Many valuable components,such as iron oxide,are contained in pyrite cinders and difficult to be separated and purified just via the high temperature roasting process.Considering this,an innovative method including water-washing,aqua regia leaching,hydrothermal alkali activation and acid-washing was developed.And the effects of different parameters on recovery efficiency of iron oxide were systematically investigated.The optimum parameters were proposed as follows：water rinse-leaching at room temperature for 5-20 min,and melting at 160 ℃ for 2.0h with NaOH（concentration of 30mass%）,followed by leaching with aqua regia solution（3.0vol.%）for 1.0h.After the treatment,the content of iron oxides increased from 54.3to 96.0mass% with the recovery rate exceeding 85%.Meanwhile,calcium sulphate was recovered as the high value-added products by alkali extraction liquid.Furthermore,the phase transformation and microstructure of the samples in the process were studied by physicochemical methods to reveal the separation mechanisms of different components in the pyrite cinders.