Minerals Engineering, Vol.134, 37-53, 2019
Nickel sulphide concentrate processing via low-temperature calcination with sodium chloride. Part 1-Identification of interaction products
The low-temperature calcination of nickel sulphide concentrates with sodium chloride and subsequent hydrometallurgical processing is a promising alternative methods. This study aims to identify the interaction products of sulphide nickel concentrate components with sodium chloride at temperatures of 400-450 degrees C. Thermodynamic studies have demonstrated that nickel sulphates, chlorides, and oxides are the probable nickelcontaining products of the interaction between nickel sulphide and sodium chloride in the presence of oxygen. At 350-450 degrees C, the formation of nickel sulphate is preferred; as the temperature increases, the probability of oxide formation also increases. We experimentally confirmed that nickel sulphate is the main nickel-containing product of the reaction between nickel sulphide concentrate and sodium chloride at 400 degrees C, and the reduced nickel oxide and chloride content was identified in the calcine. The other main products included iron oxide (III) and sodium sulphate. During calcination at 400 degrees C, up to 75% of the sulphur contained in the concentrate was bound to sodium sulphate.