Recovery of Cu(II) from nickel laterite leach using prereduction and chelating resin extraction: Batch and continuous experiments

The processing of laterite ores for nickel and cobalt production is increasing to meet the global demand for these metals. Sulphuric acid is used as a leaching agent, and metals present in the solution may be recovered by many different processes, such as ion exchange. The main problem with nickel limonite layer leach solution is the high concentration of iron, which decreases the efficiency of resin adsorption of nickel and cobalt. The removal of iron by oxidation and precipitation results in nickel, copper, and cobalt losses (co-precipitation). The aim of this work was to investigate the chelating resin extraction to recover copper from a leachate combined with a pre-reduction process, in order to increase the resin's efficiency and to increase its pH above 2.00. The following three synthetic solutions were studied: first, a solution prepared with Fe(III); the second solution was prepared with Fe(II); and the last solution was prepared with Fe(III) using a reducing process. Batch experiments were performed to study the influence of pH and temperature, and column experiments with three solutions were compared in order to verify suitable conditions to recover Cu(II) in a fixed-bed column process.