METALLURGY
XIAO Dechao, WEI Lianjun, WANG Shijun, YANG Hong, DENG Jinping, MA Xuantong, CAI Xing
With nickel laterite ore from Morowali of Indonesia as the raw material, effects of various factors, including reaction time and temperature, stirring speed, acid-to-ore ratio, and slurry concentration, on the leaching rate were systematically investigated. Additionally, the leaching mechanism was explored by using the PHREEQC, a thermodynamic calculation software. The results show that after one hour reaction at 250 ℃, with acid-to-ore ratio of 300 kg/t and slurry concentration of 25%, the leaching rates of Ni and Co can reach 98.40% and 99.90%, respectively, while the leaching rates of Fe and Al are just 3.84% and 40.25%, respectively. The high selectivity of high pressure acid leaching (HPAL) is attributed by the factor that at high temperatures, not only the hydrolysis reaction of Fe and Al can be promoted, but also the pOH can be decreased from 14 to 10, which thereby inhibits leaching of Fe and Al. As the temperature rises to above 200 ℃, the number of H+ increases, which can ensure a sufficient amount of H+ for leaching of nickel and cobalt metals.