NICKEL AND COBALT RECOVERY USING CONTINUOUS ION EXCHANGE Russian patent published in 2017 - IPC C22B3/42 C22B3/20 C22B23/00 

FIELD: chemistry.

SUBSTANCE: method comprises: (a) process liquor solution passing through the ion exchange bed for nickel absorption by the ion exchange resin and cobalt-containing raffinate solution formation, (b) sulfuric acid passing through the saturated ion exchange bed to strip nickel from the ion exchange resin and obtain nickel eluate (c) washing solution passing through the desorbed ion exchange bed, (d) cobalt-containing raffinate solution pH adjustment to a value of at least 2.3, (e) cobalt-containing raffinate solution passing through the ion exchange bed for preliminary cobalt absorption by the ion exchange resin, (f) steps (a)-(e) are repeated to increase cobalt concentration in the cobalt-containing raffinate solution to the level at least twice greater than that in the process liquor solution, and (g) removal of the first part of the cobalt-containing raffinate solution from step (d) from the nickel extraction circuit for further cobalt extraction, and (h) bringing of the second part of the cobalt-containing raffinate solution from step (d) to step (e).

EFFECT: method allows to extract nickel and cobalt more efficiently at a lower cost.

7 cl, 2 dwg, 1 tbl, 1 ex