NICKEL RECOVERY FROM SULFUR-DEFICIENT MATTES

摘要

A nickel matte in which the atomic ratio of S:(Ni+Co+Cu) is less than 0.7 is fragmented and slurried with water or an aqueous nickel sulfate solution to ensure that the S:(Ni+Co+Cu) ratio for the slurry as a whole exceeds 0.4, the slurry is heated under pressure in the presence of oxygen to form a basic nickel sulfate and the reacted slurry is treated with lime to convert the basic nickel sulfate to nickel hydroxide. The nickel hydroxide is then separated from gypsum by physical separation and thereafter dissolved in spent sulfate electrolyte to generate fresh electrolyte from which nickel can be electrowon.