Separation of Iron and Synergistic Reinforcement of Scandium Leaching from a Scandium-Containing Tailing Based on Reductive Roasting
摘要
The Bayan Obo deposit in China has abundant scandium resources, and these scandium-containing materials are stored as tailings after recovery of iron concentrate. In this study, the distribution of scandium in specific minerals in the scandium-containing tailings of Bayan Obo is calculated by combining MLA and SEM results to provide effective guidance for subsequent scandium recovery. Scandium is mainly present in aegirine; it cannot be effectively leached by conventional acid leaching. The tailing was treated by reductive roasting with Na2CO3 to separate iron and activate scandium. When the addition of Na2CO3 was 10%, and the roasting temperature was 1100 °C, the content and recovery of Fe in the magnetic product obtained by magnetic separation of the refined calcine were 90.03% and 82.60%, respectively. The recovery of scandium in the non-magnetic material was 97.95%. During reductive roasting, the scandium-containing phases like aegirine were decomposed, thus strengthening the acid-leaching property of scandium. The leaching of Sc was only 31.94% from tailings using 7.5 mol/L H2SO4 solution, which increased to 97.26% from non-magnetic materials in 2.0 mol/L H2SO4 solution. Besides, the low REE leaching ratio is conducive to their further recovery from the leaching residue.