Microwave drying of nickel-containing residue: dielectric properties, kinetics, and energy aspects

Abstract

Nickel-containing residue (NCR) is a hazardous solid waste from battery production lines. Recently, the interest in recovering valuable metals from NCR has increased because sustainable utilization of resources is more and more valued. Drying is a key part of the recovery process. In this study, we measured the dielectric properties of the NCR for different moisture contents and temperatures using the cavity perturbation method at 2.45 GHz. The microwave absorption characteristics of NCR had a positive correlation with the moisture content, while it was less efficient in the 20-180°C temperature range. Then found that the microwave drying data at different microwave powers (400-700 W) and for different sample weights (60-120 g) have a better fit with the Midilli-Kucuk model. The activation energy (Ea) was received as 9.76 W/g using an exponential expression based on the Arrhenius equation. Finally, the energy consumption reduce 110 W·h/kg than that of drying with a single microwave power by optimizing the microwave drying process.

Keywords

• nickel-containing residue
• microwave drying
• dielectric properties