METHOD OF RECOVERING AND SEPARATING TUNGSTEN AND COBALT Russian patent published in 2002 - IPC

FIELD: hydrometallurgy of nonferrous metals. SUBSTANCE: method is intended to recovery tungsten and cobalt from the waste originated from solid tungsten- cobalt alloy processing, said waste being in the form of scrap, powder or dust. To that aim, initial material is treated with alkali solution of oxidant, after which metals are separated by their distribution in solution (filtrate) and solid residue. In particular, oxidation of metals is performed by sodium hypochlorite in alkali medium at 20-50 C, and separation into tungstic acid in the form of solid precipitate and cobalt salt solution is accomplished by adding hot 50-100 C hydrochloric acid at followed by filtration. Elevated temperature of hydrochloric acid allows avoiding energetic, material, and time consumption associated with disintegration and fractioning of material. EFFECT: increased separation efficiency and degree of metal recovery. 2 cl, 1 dwg