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Optimum Treatment Time for Solid-State Extraction of Nickel from Nickel Sulfide Concentrates at 1073 K

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Abstract

Solid-state thermal treatment of Ni sulfide concentrates in an inert or reducing atmosphere, and the presence of metallic Fe is proposed as a feasible route to produce ferronickel (FeNi) alloy while retaining S in iron sulfides. The present work investigated the effects of temperature and amount of Fe addition via a thermodynamic analysis, giving a suitable temperature of 973 K to 1173 K and metallic Fe to Ni concentrates mass ratio of 0.5 to 2. The minimum time required for Ni extraction at 1073 K was investigated via thermal treatment experiments of various durations, and it was determined to be 30 minutes. Under the tested experimental conditions, average Ni concentration in the resulting sulfides and the generated FeNi was found to be 0.5 ± 0.2 mass pct and 16 to 18 mass pct, respectively, and in good agreement with the thermodynamic predictions. The maximum Ni recovery to FeNi was approximately 97 pct and the characteristic particle sizes d10 and d80 of FeNi were 14 and 45 µm, respectively. During 360 minutes of the thermal treatment, only 0.7 mass pct of S in the concentrates was released to the off gas as SO2.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC, STPGP 479533-15), Process Research Ortech Inc., and technical support from XPS Consulting & Testwork Services, Glencore and Vale Canada. Fanmao Wang was partially supported by the China Scholarship Council (CSC, No. 201708530245). Sincere thanks to Dr. Abdolkarim Danaei for his help with the experiments. Mr. Richard Elliott and Mr. Feng Liu also provide insightful discussions for this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Toronto, 184 College Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3E4, Canada

    Fanmao Wang, Sam Marcuson & Mansoor Barati

  2. Department of Materials Engineering, University of British Columbia, 309-6350 Stores Road, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada

    Leili Tafaghodi Khajavi

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  1. Fanmao Wang
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  2. Sam Marcuson
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Correspondence to Fanmao Wang.

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Manuscript submitted on May 28, 2020.

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Wang, F., Marcuson, S., Khajavi, L.T. et al. Optimum Treatment Time for Solid-State Extraction of Nickel from Nickel Sulfide Concentrates at 1073 K. Metall Mater Trans B 51, 2642–2652 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-020-01960-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-020-01960-3

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