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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Main Author: Pulgarin Saenz, John Alexander
Format: Thesis
Published: Curtin University 2024
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/96384
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author Pulgarin Saenz, John Alexander
author_facet Pulgarin Saenz, John Alexander
author_sort Pulgarin Saenz, John Alexander
building Curtin Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description 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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spelling curtin-20.500.11937-963842024-11-20T05:29:01Z Thermal Pre-treatment Techniques for Extraction of Nickel and Cobalt from Western Australia Saprolite Ores Pulgarin Saenz, John Alexander 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. 2024 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/96384 Curtin University fulltext
spellingShingle Pulgarin Saenz, John Alexander
Thermal Pre-treatment Techniques for Extraction of Nickel and Cobalt from Western Australia Saprolite Ores
title Thermal Pre-treatment Techniques for Extraction of Nickel and Cobalt from Western Australia Saprolite Ores
title_full Thermal Pre-treatment Techniques for Extraction of Nickel and Cobalt from Western Australia Saprolite Ores
title_fullStr Thermal Pre-treatment Techniques for Extraction of Nickel and Cobalt from Western Australia Saprolite Ores
title_full_unstemmed Thermal Pre-treatment Techniques for Extraction of Nickel and Cobalt from Western Australia Saprolite Ores
title_short Thermal Pre-treatment Techniques for Extraction of Nickel and Cobalt from Western Australia Saprolite Ores
title_sort thermal pre-treatment techniques for extraction of nickel and cobalt from western australia saprolite ores
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/96384