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Recovery of Valuable Metals and NaCl from Cobalt-Rich Crust and Industrial Waste Salt via Roasting Coupling Technology

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Abstract

Ocean cobalt crust has attracted much attention due to the high economic potential of various metals. A large amount of industrial waste salt is usually filled or deposited without treatment, causing severe environmental pollution and waste of salt resources. In this work, to recover valuable metals (Cu, Co, Ni, and Mn) and NaCl from cobalt-rich crust and industrial waste salt and diminish energy consumption, a roasting coupling technology has been proposed and process and mechanism were investigated. In the reduction roasting process, the organic matter in industrial waste salt was continuously pyrolyzed, producing a large amount of reducing gases such as CO, CH4, and H2, which could react with the MnO2 and Fe2O3 in the cobalt-rich crust to destroy its original crystal structure. The results revealed that the reduction process of cobalt-rich crust was gradually completed from the surface layer of particles to the core. The NaCl and Cu, Co, Ni, and Mn in the roasting residues can be recovered by water leaching and acid leaching, respectively. Under the mass ratio of industrial waste salt to ocean cobalt-rich crust of 7:5, the roasting temperature of 973.15 K, and the roasting time of 25 min, the leaching efficiency of Cu, Co, Ni, and Mn reached 96.03%, 97.98%, 98.52%, and 99.74%, respectively, and the 98.49% recovery rate of NaCl could be achieved. The present process may simultaneously realize the extraction of metals from the cobalt-rich crust and the resource utilization of waste salt.

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Acknowledgements

We are deeply grateful to COMRA for providing samples of this study. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the long-term special project for National (Project No. JS-KTHT-2019-01) and the key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China. Help from the Analytical & Testing Center of University of Science and Technology Beijing is also greatly appreciated.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Civil and Resource Engineering School, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

    Jinrong Ju, Yali Feng, Xin Li & Qian Zhang

  2. Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Jinrong Ju, Haoran Li & Xin Li

  3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Jinrong Ju & Xin Li

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  1. Jinrong Ju
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  2. Yali Feng
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Correspondence to Yali Feng.

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Ju, J., Feng, Y., Li, H. et al. Recovery of Valuable Metals and NaCl from Cobalt-Rich Crust and Industrial Waste Salt via Roasting Coupling Technology. J. Sustain. Metall. 7, 1862–1875 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40831-021-00464-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40831-021-00464-x

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