Extraction of valuable metals from low-grade nickeliferous laterite ore by reduction roasting-ammonia leaching method

Nickel and cobalt were extracted from low-grade nickeliferous laterite ore using a reduction roasting-ammonia leaching method.The reduction roasting-ammonia leaching experimental tests were chiefly introduced,by which fine coal was used as a reductant.The results show that the optimum process conditions are confirmed as follows:in reduction roasting process,the mass fraction of reductant in the ore is 10%,roasting time is 120 min,roasting temperature is 1 023-1 073 K;in ammonia leaching process,the liquid-to-solid ratio is 4:1(mL/g),leaching temperature is 313 K,leaching time is 120 min,and concentration ratio of NH3 to CO2 is 90 g/L:60 g/L.Under the optimum conditions,leaching efficiencies of nickel and cobalt are 86.25% and 60.84%,respectively.Therefore,nickel and cobalt can be effectively reclaimed,and the leaching agent can be also recycled at room temperature and normal pressure.

Treatment of copper-rich gold ore by cyanide leaching, ammonia pretreatment and ammoniacal cyanide leaching

The treatment of a copper sulphide-bearing gold ore by direct cyanide leaching, ammonia pretreatment and ammoniacal cyanide leaching was investigated. Dissolution behaviour of gold and copper in these leaching systems was demonstrated. Severe interference by the copper containing sulphides with cyanide leaching of gold is observed at p（NaCN）〈5 g/L. This is consistent with speciation calculations. Ammonia pretreatment is shown to readily eliminate the copper interference, allowing almost complete extraction of gold with concomitantly low reagent consumption in subsequent cyanide leaching. In ammoniacal cyanide system, Box-Behnken experimental design shows the main and interaction effects of NH3, NaCN and Pb（NO3）2. The concentrations of NH3 and NaCN are statistically confirmed to be significant factors affecting extraction of gold while the effect of Pb（NO3）2 is limited. Increasing the concentration of NH3 improves the selectivity and extent of gold extraction and reduces the cyanide consumption. The contribution of reagent interactions to gold extraction is statistically insignificant. These findings highlight that ammonia pretreatment and ammonia-cyanide leaching are promising approaches for the treatment of gold ores with high copper sulphide content.

Characterization and kinetic study on ammonia leaching of complex copper ore

Ammonia leaching kinetics of a complex Cu-ore assaying 8.8% Cu and 36.1% Fe was examined. Mineralogical characterization indicated that the major phase of the ore was siderite with chalcopyrite as the major sulfide mineral. The effects of parameters such as agitation, temperature, NH3 concentration, particle size and oxygen partial pressure （Po2） were investigated. Under the standard leaching conditions of 125-212 μm particle size, 120 ℃, 1.29 mol/L NH3 and 202 kPa ofpo2, about 83% Cu could be selectively extracted in 2.5 h. However, when using higher NH3 concentration and lower particle size, more than 95% extraction was achieved. The leaching process was found to be surface reaction controlling. The estimated activation energy was （37.6±1.9） kJ/mol and empirical orders of reaction with respect topos and [NH3] were about 0.2 and 1, respectively.

Characteristics of the reduction behavior of zinc ferrite and ammonia leaching after roasting

A novel method for recovering zinc from zinc ferrite by reduction roasting–ammonia leaching was studied in this paper. The reduction thermodynamic of zinc ferrite by CO was analyzed. The effects of roasting parameters on the phase transformation and conversion rate of zinc ferrite, and the leaching behavior of zinc from the reductive roasted samples by ammonia leaching, were experimentally investigated. The mineralogical phase compositions and chemical compositions of the samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction and chemical titration methods, respectively. The results showed that most of the zinc ferrite was transformed to zinc oxide and magnetite after weak reduction roasting. 86.43% of the zinc ferrite was transformed to zinc oxide under the optimum conditions: CO partial pressure of 25%, roasting temperature of 750°C, and roasting duration of 45 min. Finally, under the optimal leaching conditions, 78.12% of zinc was leached into the solution from the roasted zinc ferrite while all iron-bearing materials were kept in the leaching residue. The leaching conditions are listed as follows: leaching duration of 90 min,ammonia solution with 6 mol/L concentration, leaching temperature of 50°C, solid-to-liquid ratio of 40 g/L, and stirring speed of 200 r/min.

Leaching behavior of zinc from crude zinc oxide dust in ammonia leaching

Zinc extraction from crude zinc oxide(CZO)is beneficial to the full utilization of secondary resources and environmental protection.In this paper,a systematic investigation was carried out to study the leaching behavior of CZO by using ammonia-ammonium carbonate solution.It was found that the maximum leaching rate of zinc from CZO dust was 95.7%under the conditions of[Zn]T:[NH 3]T:[CO_(3)^(2−)]=1:7.00:1.75,liquid to solid ratio 5:1,leaching temperature 30℃ and leaching time 60 min.Compared with pure zinc oxide(PZO)leaching,the CZO leaching required longer time and more leaching agents,which is caused by the Cd^(2+),Pb^(2+) and other metal cationic impurities in CZO.The metal cationic impurities dissolved in the leaching solution and combined with ammonium to form complexes,consuming leaching agents and affecting zinc leaching.

Process and kinetics of the selective extraction of cobalt from high-silicon low-grade cobalt ores using ammonia leaching

An ammonia-based system was used to selectively leach cobalt(Co)from an African high-silicon low-grade Co ore,and the other elemental impurities were inhibited from leaching in this process.This process was simple and environmentally friendly.The results revealed that the leaching ratio of Co can reach up to 95.61%using(NH_(4))_(2)SO_(4)as a leaching agent under the following materials and conditions:(NH_(4))_(2)SO_(4)concentration 300 g/L,reductant dosage 0.7 g,leaching temperature 353 K,reaction time 4 h,and liquid-solid ratio 6 mL/g.The leaching kinetics of Co showed that the apparent activation energy of Co leaching was 76.07 kJ/mol(i.e.,in the range of 40-300 kJ/mol).This indicated that the leaching of Co from the Co ore was controlled by an interfacial chemical reaction,and then the developed leaching kinetics model of the Co can be expressed as 1-(1-α)^(1/3)=28.01×10~3×r_0^(-1)×C_((NH_(4))_(2)SO_(4))^(1.5)×exp(-76073/8.314 T)×t,whereαis the leaching ratio(%)of Co,r_0 is the average radius(m)of the Co ore particles,T is the temperature(K),and C_((NH_(4))_(2)SO_(4))is the initial reactant concentration(kg/m^(3)).

Nitrogen mobility,ammonia volatilization,and estimated leaching loss from long-term manure incorporation in red soil

Nitrogen（N） loss from fertilization in agricultural fields has an unavoidable negative impact on the environment and a better understanding of the major pathways can assist in developing the best management practices. The aim of this study was to evaluate the fate of N fertilizers applied to acidic red soil（Ferralic Cambisol） after 19 years of mineral（synthetic） and manure fertilizer treatments under a cropping system with wheat-maize rotations. Five field treatments were examined： control（CK）, chemical nitrogen and potash fertilizer（NK）, chemical nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer（NP）, chemical nitrogen, phosphorus and potash fertilizer（NPK） and the NPK with manure（NPKM, 70% N from manure）. Based on the soil total N storage change in 0–100 cm depth, ammonia（NH_3） volatilization, nitrous oxide（N_2O） emission, N plant uptake, and the potential N leaching loss were estimated using a mass balance approach. In contrast to the NPKM, all mineral fertilizer treatments（NK, NP and NPK） showed increased nitrate（NO_3~–） concentration with increasing soil depth, indicating higher leaching potential. However, total NH_3 volatilization loss was much higher in the NPKM（19.7%） than other mineral fertilizer treatments（≤4.2%）. The N_2O emissions were generally low（0.2–0.9%, the highest from the NPKM）. Total gaseous loss accounted for 1.7, 3.3, 5.1, and 21.9% for NK, NP, NPK, and NPKM treatments, respectively. Estimated N leaching loss from the NPKM was only about 5% of the losses from mineral fertilizer treatments. All data demonstrated that manure incorporation improved soil productivity, increased yield, and reduced potential leaching, but with significantly higher NH_3 volatilization, which could be reduced by improving the application method. This study confirms that manure incorporationis an essential strategy in N fertilization management in upland red soil cropping system.

Priority recovery of lithium and effective leaching of nickel and cobalt from spent lithium-ion battery

The cathode materials of spent lithium-ion batteries(LIBs)were recovered via reductive roasting,Na_(2)CO_(3) leaching,and ammonia leaching.The effects of roasting parameters,Na_(2)CO_(3) leaching parameters,and ammonia leaching parameters on the leaching efficiencies of metals were explored.The results show that the mineral phase of spent LIBs is reconstructed during reductive roasting,and more than 99%of Li can be preferentially leached via Na_(2)CO_(3) leaching.Ni(99.7%)and Co(99.9%)can be leached via one-step ammonia leaching,and Mn cannot be leached.Thus,good leaching selectivity is achieved.The kinetic study shows that the leaching of Ni and Co conforms to chemical reaction control.

Predominance diagrams for Zn(Ⅱ)-NH_3-Cl^--H_2O system

The thermodynamics in zinc hydrometallurgical process was studied using a chemical equilibrium modeling code（GEMS） to predict the zinc solubility and construct the species distribution and predominance diagrams for the Zn（Ⅱ）-NH3-H2O and Zn（Ⅱ）-NH3-Cl--H2O system.The zinc solubilities in ammoniacal solutions were also measured with equilibrium experiments,which agree well with the predicted values.The distribution and predominance diagrams show that ammine and hydroxyl ammine complexes are the main aqueous Zn species,Zn（NH3）24-is predominant in weak alkaline solution for both Zn（Ⅱ）-NH3-H2O and Zn（Ⅱ）-NH3-Cl--H2O systems.In Zn（Ⅱ）-NH3-Cl--H2O system,the ternary complexes containing ammonia and chloride increase the zinc solubility in neutral solution.There are three zinc compounds,Zn（OH）2,Zn（OH）1.6Cl0.4 and Zn（NH3）2Cl2,on which the zinc solubility depends,according to the total ammonia,chloride and zinc concentration.These thermodynamic diagrams show the effects of ammonia,chloride and zinc concentration on the zinc solubility,which can provide thermodynamic references for the zinc hydrometallurgy.

Remediation of in-situ Leach Mining Contaminated Soil by Amendment-plant Synergism

This study aimed to remediate in-situ leach mining contaminated soil by amendment-plant synergism. The results showed that plant species exhibited ex-tremely significant effects on the concentration of nitrate nitrogen; to be specific, the concentration of nitrate nitrogen in soil planted with wheat was reduced from 692.19 mg/kg to lower than 100 mg/kg; when the mass ratio of amendment to soil reached 3：50 and the amendment particle size was 1-2 mm, the concentration of nitrate ni-trogen in soil planted with wheat was reduced to 43 mg/kg. The amendment type exhibited extremely significant effects on the concentration of ammonium nitrogen; to be specific, when the mass ratio of amendment to soil reached 10：50, the concen-tration of ammonium nitrogen in soil added with 2-3 mm zeolite was reduced from 23 593.75 to 3 300 mg/kg on day 15. Amendments and plants mainly exhibited desorption performance for sulfate radical in soil, and the amendment type extreme-ly significantly affected the concentration of sulfate radical; to be specific, the con-centration of sulfate radical in soil added with limestone increased from 370 mg/kg to 900 mg/kg on day 7.

Ammonia leaching mechanism and kinetics of LiCoO_(2) material from spent lithium-ion batteries

In this paper,the ammonia leaching process and high-energy ball milling method were adapted to recover spent LiCoO_(2) material.The ammonia reduction leaching mechanism of LiCoO_(2) material in the ammonia-sodium sulfite-ammonium chloride system was elucidated.Compared with untreated LiCoO_(2) material,the leaching equilibrium time of LiCoO_(2) after ball-milled for 5 h was reduced from 48 h to 4 h,and the leaching efficiency of lithium and cobalt was improved from 69.86%and 70.80%to 89.86%and98.22%,respectively.Importantly,the apparent activation energy and leaching kinetic equation of the reaction was calculated by the shrinking core reaction model,indicating that the reaction was controlled by the chemical reaction.

Recycling of Spent Nickel-Cadmium Batteries

A technique for recycling spent nickel-cadmium batteries, which makes separaion of cadmium and nickel possible, is developed by laboratory-scale experiments. NH3-H2CO3 aqueous solution was used in this leaching technique. Since neutralization and/or solvent extraction were not required in the separation procedure of nickel and cadmium, the closed systemizaion of the process becomespossible. Experimental results show that, (1) if the NH3 concentraion of leaching solution is sufficiently high and the ratio of H2CO3 toNH3 is properly adjusted, both Ni(OH)2 and Cd(OH)2 react with NH, and quickly dissolve into leaching solution, and (2) Ni(OH)2 can beconverted into insoluble NiO by calcination at 500℃, and CdO from Cd(OH)2 by calcination maintains good solubility in NH3-H2CO3aqueous solution. As a conclusion, the recycling technique characterized by two step leaching can be developed based on such changesin dissolution behavior by calcination. Meanwhile, the yields of 99.8% for nickel and 97.6% for cadmium are obtained, and the puritiesof Recycling of Spent Nickel-Cadmium BatterieRecycling of Spent Nickel-Cadmium Batteries Recycling of Spent Nickel-Cadmium Batteriesrecovered nickel and cadmium are 99.9% and 98.6%, respectively.