Thermal Pre-treatment Techniques for Extraction of Nickel and Cobalt from Western Australia Saprolite Ores
Laterite deposits, holding 70% of global nickel resources, are economically challenging to process but are gaining interest. Traditional methods like high-pressure acid leaching (HPAL) face difficulties with saprolite ores due to high magnesium silicates. This research explores alternative methods:...
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| Format: | Thesis |
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Curtin University
2024
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/96384 |
| Summary: | Laterite deposits, holding 70% of global nickel resources, are economically challenging to process but are gaining interest. Traditional methods like high-pressure acid leaching (HPAL) face difficulties with saprolite ores due to high magnesium silicates. This research explores alternative methods: non-reductive roasting followed by ammonia glycine leaching and reductive roasting to concentrate nickel and cobalt into a ferronickel phase. High goethite samples showed improved leachability, while magnesium silicate-rich samples required high-temperature reductive roasting with controlled CO2 flow and sodium chloride addition for optimal ferronickel recovery. FactSage® simulations highlighted discrepancies between predicted and experimental results due to kinetics and mass transfer constraints. |
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