BATEMAN PULSED COLUMN PILOT-PLANT CAMPAIGN TO EXTRACT COBALT FROM THE NICKEL ELECTROLYTE STREAM AT ANGLO PLATINUM'S BASE METAL REFINERY

摘要

An extended pilot-plant campaign was completed at Anglo Platinum's base metal refinery to evaluate the technical feasibility of using the Bateman Pulsed Column for the removal of cobalt from the nickel sulphate electrolyte produced at the refinery. A conventional Cyanex 272~(~R) solvent-extraction system was employed and the Bateman Pulsed Column was successfully evaluated for the extraction and stripping of cobalt. The extraction of cobalt from the nickel feed solution was successfully evaluated at a flux of 50 m~3/m~2/h and the cobalt concentration in the feed was reduced from 250 to below 10 mg/L. The average Co:Ni and Co:Mg ratios on the loaded organic were 15.5 and 9.5, respectively. The stripping of cobalt from the loaded organic was successfully evaluated at a flux of 25 m~3/m~2/h. The cobalt concentration of the loaded organic was consistently reduced from approximately 0.8 to 0.05 g/L (>95% stripping efficiency) and a loaded strip liquor containing approximately 12 g/L cobalt was produced.