Abstract
A thermal upgrading process by which nickel value can be concentrated in a ferronickel alloy is a possible alternative to treat Sudbury pyrrhotite (Po) tailings with nickel content of 0.5–1.5 wt%. The basis of this process is precipitation of Ni from Po at high temperature once Fe/S ratio in the iron -deficient Po is shifted towards stoichiometric or near stoichiometric FeS (troilite) either by the addition of iron and/or the removal of sulfur . For the iron addition route, the reaction between elemental iron and nickeliferous pyrrhotite to produce ferronickel alloy and Ni-depleted iron sulfide phase plays a critical rule. In this paper, the formation mechanism of ferronickel alloy was investigated using the diffusion couple technique to better understand the nickel diffusion behavior in the iron and sulfide phases.
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Acknowledgements
The financial support for the study was provided by NSERC (Fund # STPGP 479533-15) and Process Research Ortech Inc. Samples were provided by Glencore.
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Liu, F., Barati, M., Marcuson, S. (2018). Formation Mechanism of Ferronickel Alloy Due to the Reaction Between Iron and Nickeliferous Pyrrhotite at 850–900 °C. In: Davis, B., et al. Extraction 2018. The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95022-8_33
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-95022-8_33
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