Hydrometallurgical process and recovery of valuable elements for limonitic laterite:A review

Nickel is a strategic resource in social life and defense technology,playing an essential role in many fields,such as alloys and batteries.With the decrease in nickel sulfide,it is of great significance to extract nickel from laterite.The limonitic laterite is a kind of rich nickel-cobalt-scandium resource.At present,there are few reviews on the extraction of limonitic laterite.This study reviews the hydrometallurgical processes for limonitic laterite ores and the methods of recovering valuable elements.The mineralogical characteristics are analyzed,and the typical mineral compositions are summarized.The main hydrometallurgical processes are compared and discussed,including reduction roasting-ammonia leaching,sulfuric acid pressure leaching,nitric acid pressure leaching,and the atmospheric nitric acid leaching(DNi process).The methods of recovering nickel,cobalt,scandium,and iron are emphatically outlined.Finally,reasonable suggestions are proposed for comprehensive utilization.This study can provide a reference for industrial development and diversified applications.

Thermodynamics of leaching roasted jarosite residue from zinc hydrometallurgy in NH_4Cl system

The thermal decomposition process ofjarosite residue and the solubility of various oxides presented in the decomposed residue in NH4C1-H20 system were studied. The results of heat decomposition ofjarosite residue show that the insoluble ZnFe2O4 phase in the residue can be decomposed at temperatures ranging from 500 ℃ to 650 ℃ for 1 h. The OLI Systems software was used to study the thermodynamics of the solubility of various metal oxides existing in the decomposed residue in NH4CI-H20 system. The results show that the solubility ofZnO, PbO, CdO, CuO and Ag20 is high, while the solubility of Fe203 is less than 10-4 mol/L in the pH range from 4.0 to 9.0. The calculated data are in accordance with the experimental results.

Mass transfer process in replacement-column purification device in zinc hydrometallurgy

It is important to remove the impurities, such as copper and cadmium, from leaching solution in zinc hydrometallurgy. To improve purification efficiency, a replacement-column purification device was proposed and its mass transfer characteristics and purification efficiency were experimentally studied. The results show that purification efficiency increases with the decrease of the zinc powder diameter and decreases with the increase of solution velocity. If appropriate structure and operation parameters are used, it is possible to make purification efficiency more than 99%, but the diameter of zinc powder should be larger than 0.45 mm. For the velocity of 0.05-0.7 cm/s, mass transfer coefficient kc is in the range of 3.94×10-7-2.76×10-6 m/s, and increases with the decrease of zinc powder diameter and the increase of solution velocity. Moreover, it can be derived by mass transfer correlations of Sherwood number:Sh=0.1069Re0.5Sc0.33, for 0.3<Re<6.

Development of Rare Earth Hydrometallurgy Technology in China

In this paper, the recent advance of processes for treating Baotou mixed-type rare earths concentrate, bastnasite, and ionic adsorption deposit in China was reviewed. The R & D circumstance and new progresses in separation and purification of individual and high purity RE compounds in China were introduced. Moreover, the development of RE hydrometallurgy was also predicted. So we suggest to enhance the research and development of products applying RE, especially Ce, Y, Gd, Sm etc., for keeping RE consumption equilibrium and extending applications, to increase enterprise's automatic control level for improving the stability and the consistency of the products, and to pay more attention to protection of environment.

EXPERT OPTIMIZED CONTROL TECHNIQUE FOR ELECTROLYTIC DEPOSITION PROCESS OF HYDROMETALLURGY OF ZINC

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Efficient and selective recovery of Ni, Cu, and Co from low-nickel matte via a hydrometallurgical process

Low-nickel matte was intensively characterized, and Ni, Cu, and Co were determined to exist mainly as (Fe,Ni)9S8and FeNi3, Cu5FeS4, and (Fe,Ni)9S8and Fe3O4(in isomorphic form), respectively. The efficient and selective extraction of Ni, Cu, and Co from the low-nickel matte in an (NH4)2S2O8/NH3·H2O solution system was studied. The effects of (NH4)2S2O8and NH3·H2O concentrations, leaching time, and leaching temperature on the metal extraction efficiency were systematically investigated. During the oxidative ammonia leaching process, the metal extraction efficiencies of Ni 81.07%, Cu 93.81%, and Co 71.74% were obtained under the optimal conditions. The relatively low leaching efficiency of Ni was mainly ascribed to NiFe alloy deactivation in ammonia solution. By introducing an acid pre-leaching process into the oxidative ammonia leaching process, we achieved the high extraction efficiencies of 98.03%, 99.13%, and 85.60% for the valuable metals Ni, Cu, and Co, respectively, from the low-nickel matte. © 2017, University of Science and Technology Beijing and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Development Status and Research Progress in Rare Earth Hydrometallurgy in China

Characteristic and hydrometallurgy processes for Baotou mixed-type rare earth concentrate, bastnasite, and ionic adsorption deposit in China were reviewed. The R ＆ D circumstance and new progresses in extraction and separation of RE element in China were introduced. Moreover, the development trend of RE hydrometallurgy was predicted. The direction and emphasised fields of research and development are also brought forward as： to R ＆ D high efficient green progresses in hydrometallurgy and separation of RE ore, resolve the waste pollution problem of water, slagand gas, reduce the chemical material consumption and improve comprehensive efficiency of resources; to R ＆ D preparation technology for RE compounds with ultra high-purity and special physical property for extending application fields of RE.

Hydrometallurgical Processing of Manganese Ores: A Review

Hydrometallurgy is the most suitable extractive technique for the extraction and purification of manganese as compared to all other techniques including biometallurgy and pyrometallurgical processes. In the hydrometallurgical processing of manganese from its ore, the leach liquors often contain divalent ions such as iron, manganese, copper, nickel, cobalt and zinc along with other impurities which make manganese very difficult to separate. The processes employed for solution concentration and purification in the hydrometallurgical processing of manganese include precipitation, cementation, solvent extraction and ion exchange. Solvent extraction also proves more efficient and it plays vital roles in the purification and separation of the manganese as compared to all other techniques. A detailed review of the various steps involved in the hydrometal-lurgical manganese processing, concentration and purification processes and newer processes of extraction of manganese from ores and waste materials were discussed.

Thermodynamic and kinetic of iodine-iodide leaching in gold hydrometallurgy

The thermodynamic equilibria and kinetic aspect of gold dissolution in iodine-iodide leaching were studied with emphasis on the effects of pH value and temperature on the system.The results of thermodynamic analysis of iodine in aqueous solution were given and numerous forms of iodine exist mainly in the acid region of pH values.An increase of the potential of the system results in an increase of iodine speciation.The oxidizing potential of the system will increase by the addition of element iodine.The IO^(3-)anions are stable in the potential range from-2.0 to-0.75 V and at pH value greater than 12.1.An increase of the temperature shifts boundaries of existence of various iodine species in the acid region of pH values.Some of them become unstable.The determined values of the diffusion coefficients and the thickness of the diffusion boundary layer,as well as the solvent concentration on the disc surface(14 mg/L) indicate that the process proceeds in the external diffusion region.Thus,while choosing the conditions of leaching from gold-containing materials of different origins of iodide solvents,it is necessary to carry out the process within the acidic region of pH values,where I^-,I_3^- and IO_4^- ions are capable to form complex compounds with metals.

Application of ionic liquids in hydrometallurgy of nonferrous metals

Ionic liquids as green solvents have shown important application in the extraction and separation of nonferrous metals.The new application perspective,the important fundamental and the applied studies of the extraction and separation of nonferrous metals in ionic liquids,including the dissolution and corrosion of metal and metal oxide,hydrometallurgy of chalcopyrite and metallic oxidized ore,and extraction and separation of metal ions,are introduced.

Ligand selection for complex-leaching valuable metals in hydrometallurgy

A two-stage ligand selection method composed of a primary selection and a critical selection,for complex-leaching valuable metals was presented.At the primary selection stage,three conditions were discussed under a supposed ideal state by mathematical derivation.Generally,ligands selected under condition Ⅰwere easier for complex-leaching valuable metals than that under conditionⅡ,however,under conditionⅢ,ligands selected were hard to complex-leaching the valuable metals.Ligands that were out of these three conditions could be disposed directly.In critical selection,ligands selected in primary selection can be finalized.Case applications were provided for verifying the method.The application indicated that iminodiacetate(Ida2-)can be used as a complex agent for complex-leaching smithsonite(ZnCO3);the leaching condition should be controlled with pH 8-11;the relative error of the minimum consumption of Ida2-between the predicted and the calculated results is 5.3%.The results indicate that the theoretical derivations in the ideal state are reliable,and the method for ligand selection is practical and operable.

Hydrometallurgical application for treating a Nigerian chalcopyrite ore in chloride medium:Part I.Dissolution kinetics assessment

The dissolution kinetics of a Nigerian chalcopyrite ore in hydrochloric acid was studied in this article. Acid concentration, reaction temperature, and ore particle size were chosen as experimental parameters. The chemical and morphological studies of the ore before and after leaching at optimal conditions were carried out by X-ray diffraction （XRD） and scanning electron microscopy （SEM）. It is revealed that increasing the acid concentration and system temperature and decreasing the ore particle size greatly enhances the dissolution rate. The dissolution kinetics was found to follow the shrinking core model for the diffusion control mechanism where the activation energy （Ea） of 32.92 kJ.mo1-1 was obtained for the process and supported by morphological changes at a higher dissolution of 91.33%.

Expert fault diagnosis system for leaching process in zinc hydrometallurgy

Leaching process is the first step in zinc hydrometallurgy, which involves the complex chemical reactions for dissolving zinc bearing material in dilute sulfuric acid. Ensuring the safe running of the process is a key point in the operation. An expert fault diagnosis system for the leaching process was proposed, which has been implemented in a nonferrous metals smeltery. The system architecture and the diagnosis procedure were presented, and the rule models with the certainty factor were constructed based on the empirical knowledge, empirical data and statistical results on past fault countermeasures, and an expert reasoning strategy was proposed which employs the rule models and Beyes presentation and combines forward chaining and backward chaining. [

Chalcocite(bio)hydrometallurgy-current state,mechanism,and future directions:A review

There has been a strong interest in technologies suited for mining and processing of low-grade ores because of the rapid depletion of mineral resources in the world.In most cases,the extraction of copper from such raw materials is achieved by applying the leaching procedures.However,its low extraction efficiency and the long extraction period limit its large-scale commercial applications in copper recovery,even though bioleaching has been widely employed commercially for heap and dump bioleaching of secondary copper sulfide ores.Overcoming the technical challenges requires a better understanding of leaching kinetics and on-site microbial activities.Herein,this paper reviews the current status of main commercial biomining operations around the world,identifies factors that affect chalcocite dissolution both in chemical leaching and bioleaching,summarizes the related kinetic research,and concludes with a discussion of two on-site chalcocite heap leaching practices.Further,the challenges and innovations for the future development of chalcocite hydrometallurgy are presented in the end.

Effect of copper slag recovery on hydrometallurgical cut-off grades considering environmental aspects

Determining the hydrometallurgical cut-off grades specifies the destination of low grade materials and this is subjected to more benefits in mining. Copper production rate is considered as one of the fundamental issues in hydrometallurgical cut-off grades determination. Slags are remarked as one of the main sources of copper. It is not only regarded as a waste but also identified as another resource extracting base metals. Slags are characterized by copper high grade. Thus, slag copper recovery can be led to different cut-off grades and net present value(NPV). The current research scrutinizes the effect of slag recovery by both flotation and hydrometallurgical methods on the hydrometallurgical cut-off grades. For this purpose, the optimum cut-off grade algorithms of hydrometallurgical methods are developed by considering associated environmental parameters, incomes and also the costs. Then, their optimum amounts are calculated with NPV maximization as an objective function. The results indicate that considering slag copper recovery in the hydrometallurgical cut-off grade algorithms reduces the environmental costs caused by slag dumping and leads to more NPV by 9%.

Role and maintenance of redox potential on chalcopyrite biohydrometallurgy:An overview

Chalcopyrite is one of the most important copper minerals;however,the extracted efficiency of chalcopyrite is still not satisfactory in hydrometallurgy owing to its high lattice energy which leads to its low dissolution kinetics.To overcome the difficulties,many advanced technologies have been developed,including the selection of high effectively bacteria,the inhibition of the passivation film adhered onto the minerals surface,and the maintenance of solution redox potential under an optimum range.Up to date,considerable researches on the first two terms have been summarized,while the overview of the last term has been rarely reported.Based on corresponding works in recent years,key trends and roles of solution redox potential in copper hydrometallurgy,including its definition,effect and maintenance,have been introduced in this review.

Copper hydrometallurgy—current status, preliminary economics, future direction and positioning versus smelting

The heap leaching of oxide copper ores with copper cathode recovery by solvent extraction and electro-winning is now well established as a low-cost method of copper recovery. This technology has recently been applied successfully to mixed oxide and chalcocite ores, notably in Chile at Cerro Colorado, Quebrada Blanca and Zaldivar. Currently, there are significant development efforts underway to try to extend heap leaching to chalcopyrite ores. The success of heap leaching/SX/EW has also led to a revival in the development of hydrometallurgical processes to recover copper from chalcopyrite and other copper concentrates. The current status of copper hydrometallurgy is reviewed and the most commercially attractive potential applications are explored. The advantages and disadvantages of the hydrometallurgical treatment of chalcopyrite concentrates and its preliminary economics are compared with those for the current best practices in copper smelting and refining.

Removal of iron and aluminum impurities from metallurgical grade-silicon with hydrometallurgical route

A new method for production of solar grade silicon(SoG-Si) at low cost from metallurgical grade silicon(MG-Si) via vacuum metallurgical technique was proposed,which is a promising process to feedstock solar energy silicon material independence of traditional Siemens method. In this procedure,pre-treatment of MG-Si using hydrometallurgical routes to remove the metallic impurities such as iron and aluminum to reduce the production cost is an important process. The influences of acid agents,acid concentration,reaction time and temperature and particle size of raw material ground on the removal efficiency of iron and aluminum impurities were investigated,respectively. The results show that the optimum operation conditions for leaching in acid C are:acid concentration 6 mol/L,temperature 60 ℃,time 4 d,diameter for raw material 50 μm. The removal efficiencies of impurities iron and aluminum are up to 85% and 75%,respectively.

Modeling, Optimization, and Control of Solution Purification Process in Zinc Hydrometallurgy

The solution purification process is an essential step in zinc hydrometallurgy. The performance of solution purification directly affects the normal functioning and economical benefits of zinc hydrometallurgy. This paper summarizes the authors' recent work on the modeling, optimization, and control of solution purification process. The online measurable property of the oxidation reduction potential(ORP) and the multiple reactors, multiple running statuses characteristic of the solution purification process are extensively utilized in this research. The absence of reliable online equipment for detecting the impurity ion concentration is circumvented by introducing the oxidationreduction potential into the kinetic model. A steady-state multiple reactors gradient optimization, unsteady-state operationalpattern adjustment strategy, and a process evaluation strategy based on the oxidation-reduction potential are proposed. The effectiveness of the proposed research is demonstrated by its industrial experiment.

Study on Extracting Low Concentration Cadmium from Zinc Hydrometallurgy System by Liquid Membrane Crystallizing Technique

The extraction of low concentration cadmium from a system containing high concentration zinc was studied and got CdS product directly. A new liquid membrane system taking DIPSA, TIBPS as carriers, (NH 4) 2S as precipitating agent was reported. Precipitating Cd 2+ in the internal aq. phase that is used to treat sulfuric acid leaching solution of zinc oxide in zinc hydrometallurgy has gotten satisfied results of extracting cadmium from high concentration zinc. After one stage of batch process under the optimum liquid membrane conditions, 98.6% transferring rate and 98.1% extracting rate of cadmium was obtained with only less than 1.0% transferring rate of zinc, and the feed solution can be purified very well.