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Characterization of Nickel in Chromite Beneficiation Tailings by Mineral Liberation Analysis and Its Recovery by H2SO4 Leaching Followed by Oxalic Acid Precipitation

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Abstract

This study investigated the recovery of nickel from tailings (0.2% Ni) obtained in a chromite beneficiation plant using H2SO4 leaching followed by oxalic acid precipitation. The tailings were characterized using mineral liberation analysis. Ni was found as Fe-Ni, Fe-Ni-Co sulfide minerals, which were encapsulated in serpentine, olivine, pyroxene and clinochlore. Liberated fine chromite minerals benefited from magnetic separation followed by Falcon concentrator. A chromite product with a grade > 37% was obtained. The effect of leaching conditions including acid concentration, temperature, time and solid-to-liquid ratio on the leaching behavior of Ni was investigated based on the Taguchi approach. It was possible to extract Ni with a rate of > 98% from the tailings using the following conditions: H2SO4 concentration of 3 M, solid-to-liquid ratio of 1:20 and ambient temperature for 2 h. Finally, Ni was precipitated as an oxalate form with a precipitation rate of 72%. It is believed that implementing additional purification methods like solvent extraction may be essential to obtain a high-purity nickel product from the leach solution of oxalate precipitate. Experimental results indicate that the tailings used in this study are a good alternative as Ni resource in the near future.

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Acknowledgement

The study was financially supported by Cukurova University (FBA-2022-14375). The authors thank anonymous reviewers for their suggestion and comments to improve the quality of the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Mineral Processing, Department of Mining Engineering, Cukurova University, 01330, Adana, Turkey

    Mahmut Altiner, Ahmedaljaali Ibrahim Idrees Ibrahim & Oktay Bayat

  2. Department of Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering, Batman University, 72100, Batman, Turkey

    Sait Kursunoglu

  3. Department of Engineering Science, Abdullah Gul University, 38080, Kayseri, Turkey

    Soner Top

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  1. Mahmut Altiner
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Altiner, M., Ibrahim, A.I.I., Kursunoglu, S. et al. Characterization of Nickel in Chromite Beneficiation Tailings by Mineral Liberation Analysis and Its Recovery by H2SO4 Leaching Followed by Oxalic Acid Precipitation. JOM 76, 1383–1393 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11837-023-06253-z

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