Application of Aeration Rate for Ammonia Leaching of Ni and Co at Preliminary Industrial Scale

Abstract

The ammonia-ammonium carbonate leaching was studied applying several aeration speed to diminish the nickel losses and fundamentally, of cobalt. The system is composed by 5 reactors in series. The Redox Potential (ORP) was measured to indicate the course of the leaching with a pHmV of combined electrodes Pt-calomel. The aeration speed was calculated applying a computer program, for a time of retention calculated between 100 y 128 min. The content of nickel, cobalt and iron in the mineral was 1,09 %, 0,120 % and 44,96 % respectively. The modification of the
aeration speed exercised a valuable change in the leaching of the metals, while that for the nickel the losses reached a maximum of 1,7 %, for the cobalt it was 7,4 %.