Kuparin, mangaanin, nikkelin ja koboltin talteenotto synteettisestä rikastushiekkaliu-oksesta ioninvaihtomenetelmällä

As the demand of metals is increasing and the grade of primary ores is decreasing secondary sources, such as mine tailings, have gained attention. Mine tailings are the waste generated from the mineral processing of ores. It has been discovered that some old mine tailings deposits may contain significant amounts of valuable metals including battery metals such as copper, manganese, nickel and cobalt. Chelating ion exchange resins have been shown to be effective in the selective separation of the previous metals. This Master’s thesis investigates the recovery of copper, manganese, nickel and cobalt from a synthetic mine tailings leachate by ion exchange. Ion exchange experiments were carried out in a small pilot-type ion exchange column. The aim was to make an initial design of an ion exchange process, where high purities of copper, manganese, nickel and cobalt can be obtained. More specifically, the impact of the process conditions (pH, temperature and flowrate) on the dynamic capacities and on the purities of the target metals were investigated. Three commercial chelating resins with three different functional groups were used for selective separation of copper, manganese, nickel and cobalt. Purolite®S930Plus resin with iminodiacetic acid functional group removed copper with dynamic capacity of 22 g Cu/L. Lewatit® MDS TP 260 resin with aminomethylphosphonic acid functional group separated manganese from nickel and cobalt with dynamic capacity of 2.5 g Mn/L. Lewatit® MDS TP 220 resin with bis-picolylamine functional group selectively separated nickel from cobalt with dynamic capacity 15 g Ni/L. Purities 98.2 %, 99.2 %, 99.5 % and >99.9 % were obtained for copper, manganese, nickel and cobalt, respectively.