Development of an Enlarged Adsorber for the Processing of Productive Solutions

Productive solutions obtained after leaching of ores have a complex composition, including a variety of non-ferrous and heavy metal cations. The method of extracting nickel from productive solutions after leaching of sulfide and lateritic ores is the most important process in hydrometallurgical processing. Sorption by ion-exchange resins is an alternative to the existing technologies for nickel recovery from productive solutions. The ability to selectively extract nickel and regenerate makes polymeric ion-exchange resins one of the most popular sorbents in the modern world. The polymer resin sorption process avoids wastage of reagents, costly filtration, and poor nickel selectivity compared to other metal ions associated with solvent extraction processes. In order to conduct experimental studies of sorption using Amberlite IRC 748 polymer resin, it is necessary to calculate and design an adsorber. The objectives of the study include the determination of the geometric parameters of the adsorber, the parameters of the sorption/desorption process, and the development of a process-flow diagram. As a result of the research, an enlarged adsorber is designed to extract nickel from the productive solution after bacterial–chemical oxidation of a cobalt–copper–nickel sulfide ore, and a process flow diagram for the process of obtaining nickel salts from the productive solution is developed. The volume of the adsorber; its height, diameter, and the diameter of the inlet fitting; the height of the sorbent layer; the required resin flow rate; and the duration of the process before regeneration are determined. To ensure the continuity of the process, taking into account the duration of bacterial–chemical oxidation and periodic regeneration of the sorbent, the number of adsorbers in the common installation is taken to be two. When the adsorption stage occurs in one of the apparatuses, the stage of regeneration and drying of the polymer resin proceeds in the other. The estimated sorption capacity of Amberlite IRC 748 resin is taken as 21.6 g of nickel per 0.1 kg of adsorbent. Resin desorption is proposed to be carried out with a 10% sulfuric acid solution at a flow rate of 5 L/h.