Nickel recovery from electric arc furnace slag by magnetic separation

Abstract

During the pyrometallurgical treatment of the nickel-bearing laterite in the plant of G.M.M. S.A. LARCO, slag is produced after treatment in electric-arc furnace (EAF) that contains 0.10 to 0.20 % Ni. Taking into account the great quantity of slag produced per year, the recovery of nickel from the EAF slag will add benefits to the entire process. The target of the current work is to investigate the possibility of nickel recovery from EAF slag by magnetic separation. To meet the target, the effect of the following parameters was studied: grain size, magnetic field intensity, thickness of slag layer, moisture content, and re-grinding of the coarser slag particles. The results show that it is possible to obtain a magnetic product with nickel grade close to that of the primary raw material or even better, with sufficient nickel recovery.

Keywords

• magnetic separation
• metal recovery
• nickel-bearing laterite
• nickel metallurgy
• nickel slag