Nickel ore Smelting, leaching, and Solvent Extraction-Plant-Changsha Metalcess Intelligent Equipment Co., Ltd.-Metallurgical Equipment Design and Manufacturing, Process Technology Package Delivery, and Automation Integration

Nickel ore Smelting, leaching, and Solvent Extraction

Through blast furnace or oxygen side blow furnace smelting, high nickel matte can be produced from nickel ore or concentrate. Then battery-grade nickel sulfate can be produced from high nickel matte by hydrometallurgical process. Metalcess provides the technology and equipment for producing power battery nickel sulfate from nickel concentrate and nickel ore. The main technical process is: blast furnace/oxygen side blow furnace smelting - sulfuric acid leaching - copper extraction - iron removal by neutralization - cobalt extraction - nickel extraction - MVR concentration - OSL continuous crystallization.

Raw Material

High nickel matte, nickel concentrate, nickel sulfide ore, nickel oxide ore.

Output Quality

1) Main product

Battery grade nickel sulfate

2) By-products

copper sulfate solution, cobalt slag, iron slag, and steel shell

Detailed Description

The basic process flow for producing battery-grade nickel sulfate from nickel concentrate is as follows:

blast furnace/oxygen-enriched side-blown furnace smelting - atmospheric pressure pre-leaching - oxygen pressure leaching - copper extraction - iron removal by neutralization - cobalt extraction - nickel extraction - MVR concentration - OSL continuous crystallization.

The total direct nickel recovery rate is 94.61%.

Smelting

Smelting

The smelting of nickel sulfide ore is semi-pyritic oxidation smelting process. The smelting slag and nickel matte are separated in the hearth or at the furnace front bed. The smelting of nickel oxide ore is reduction and sulphidizing smelting, and the nickel matte and Ca-Fe-Mg silicate slag are separated in the hearth. Different processes and furnace types can be selected based on different raw materials and capacities. In recent years, oxygen side blow furnace are widely used in China for Copper and Nickel ore smelting, especially those project of big capacity. For small capacity project, blast furnace are adopted.

Acid Leaching

Acid Leaching

There are two leaching process combined in this plant: Atmospheric pressure leaching and Oxygen pressure leaching.

Atmospheric pressure leaching: The main composition of high nickel matte includes Ni3S2, copper sulfide Cu2S and NiCu alloy. During the atmospheric pressure leaching process, the main reactions are the precipitation of copper and the leaching of nickel. The iron in the alloy phase undergoes a dissolution reaction, and when the pH is higher than 2, goethite precipitates are formed.

Oxygen pressure leaching: Pressure leaching is carried out in a pressure leaching autoclave. Copper, nickel and cobalt are leached by acid. Impurities such as iron and silicon remain in the residue. The leached pulp is sent to a pressure thickener. The thickener underflow is filtered and sent for pyrometallurgical treatment, which can recover precious metals and convert iron slag into a fusible slag, reducing disposal costs. The pressure leaching solution and underflow filtrate are returned for use in the atmospheric leaching feed.

Extraction and Iron Removal

Copper extraction, iron removal, cobalt extraction, and nickel extraction

After atmospheric pressure leaching and filtration, the filtrate is firstly sent tor copper extraction process. After copper extraction, the solution is degreased and then neutralized with sodium carbonate. The iron residue is washed and filtered. After iron removal, the solution enters the cobalt extraction separation process, where cobalt is extracted first and then sent to nickel extraction process.

MVR and Crystrallization

Evaporation concentration and crystallization: MVR evaporation-cooling crystallization is adopted to produce nickel sulfate and cobalt sulfate crystals. The high-temperature nickel sulfate concentrated solution after evaporation can reach a specific gravity of 1.48-1.52g/ml. It is sent to a vacuum crystallizer to produce nickel sulfate for power batteries.