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Ferronickel Generation from Nickel Sulfide Concentrates by Metallic Iron Addition: Optimization of the Nickel Extraction Process

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Abstract

Nickel sulfide concentrates are critical materials for the production of metallic nickel. The disadvantages associated with the conventional nickel extraction process are the considerable amounts of sulfur dioxide emissions in the smelting process and the complex Ni refining steps to produce a marketable product. The authors proposed a novel thermal treatment method for nickel sulfide concentrates with minimal SO2 emissions and have increased the ferronickel particle size through a two-stage heat treatment process. Heating the materials at 1223 K followed by slow cooling to 973 to 1073 K produced large ferronickel particles of d80 = 500 μm and Ni extraction of approximately 97 pct.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge the financial support from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC, STPGP 479533-15), Process Research Ortech Inc., and technical support from XPS Consulting & Testwork Services, Glencore and Vale Canada. Fanmao Wang was partially supported by the China Scholarship Council (CSC, No. 201708530245). Sincere thanks to Dr. Abdolkarim Danaei for his help with the experiments. Mr. Richard Elliott and Mr. Feng Liu also provided constructive discussions for this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Toronto, 184 College Street, Toronto, ON, M5S 3E4, Canada

    Fanmao Wang, Sam Marcuson & Mansoor Barati

  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, McMaster University, 1280 Main Street West, JHE 357, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4L7, Canada

    Leili Tafaghodi Khajavi

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  1. Fanmao Wang
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  2. Sam Marcuson
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Correspondence to Fanmao Wang.

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Manuscript submitted January 30, 2021; accepted May 25, 2021.

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Wang, F., Marcuson, S., Khajavi, L.T. et al. Ferronickel Generation from Nickel Sulfide Concentrates by Metallic Iron Addition: Optimization of the Nickel Extraction Process. Metall Mater Trans B 52, 3120–3129 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-021-02240-4

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