Abstract
An ammonia-based system was used to selectively leach cobalt (Co) from an African high-silicon low-grade Co ore, and the other elemental impurities were inhibited from leaching in this process. This process was simple and environmentally friendly. The results revealed that the leaching ratio of Co can reach up to 95.61% using (NH4)2SO4 as a leaching agent under the following materials and conditions: (NH4)2SO4 concentration 300 g/L, reductant dosage 0.7 g, leaching temperature 353 K, reaction time 4 h, and liquid—solid ratio 6 mL/g. The leaching kinetics of Co showed that the apparent activation energy of Co leaching was 76.07 kJ/mol (i.e., in the range of 40–300 kJ/mol). This indicated that the leaching of Co from the Co ore was controlled by an interfacial chemical reaction, and then the developed leaching kinetics model of the Co can be expressed as \(1 - {(1 - \alpha )^{1/3}} = 28.01 \times {10^3} \times r_0^{ - 1} \times C_{{{({\rm{N}}{{\rm{H}}_4})}_2}{\rm{S}}{{\rm{O}}_4}}^{1.5} \times \exp ( - 76073/8.314T) \times t\), where α is the leaching ratio (%) of Co, r0 is the average radius (m) of the Co ore particles, T is the temperature (K), and \({C_{{{({\rm{N}}{{\rm{H}}_4})}_2}{\rm{S}}{{\rm{O}}_4}}}\) is the initial reactant concentration (kg/m3).
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Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51804136, 52064021, 51974140, and 52064018), the Key Projects of Jiangxi Key R&D Plan, China (No. 20192ACB70017), the Jiangxi Provincial Cultivation Program for Academic and Technical Leaders of Major Subjects, China (No. 20204 BCJL23031), the Jiangxi Province Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, China (No. 20202ACB213002), the Program of Qingjiang Excellent Young Talents, Jiangxi University of Science and Technology, China (JXUSTQJBJ 2020004), and the Distinguished Professor Program of Jinggang Scholars in institutions of higher learning, Jiangxi Province, China.
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Tian, L., Gong, A., Wu, X. et al. Process and kinetics of the selective extraction of cobalt from high-silicon low-grade cobalt ores using ammonia leaching. Int J Miner Metall Mater 29, 218–227 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-020-2161-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-020-2161-6