ISSN: 1003-6326
CN: 43-1239/TG
CODEN: TNMCEW

Vol. 19    No. 2    April 2009

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Recovery of valuable metals from anode material of hydrogen-nickel battery
WU Fang(吴 芳), XU Sheng-ming(徐盛明), LI Lin-yan(李林艳),
CHEN Song-zhe(陈崧哲), XU Gang(徐 刚), XU Jing-ming(徐景明)
(Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China)
Abstract:  Simultaneous recovery of rare earth, nickel and cobalt resources from the anode material of hydrogen-nickel battery was performed through a hydrometallurgical process. Most of rare earth elements are separated from nickel and cobalt in the form of sulfates when the anode material is firstly leached with sulfuric acid. Then, the precipitated rare earth sulfates are dissolved with sodium hydroxide to form rare earth hydroxides. The rare earth element, zinc and manganese ions in the lixivium are also separated from nickel and cobalt by using PC-88A extractant system, and the organic phase loaded rare earth is stripped with hydrochloric acid. By neutralizing the stripping solution with rare earth hydroxide, the rare earth chloride is obtained. Under the suitable leaching conditions of sulfuric acid 3 mol/L, leaching time 4 h and temperature 95 ℃, 94.5% of rare earth in the anode material is transformed into the sulfate precipitates, and the leaching ratios of nickel and cobalt can approach 99.5%. When the pH value of the extractive system is controlled in the range of 3.0−3.5, the rare earth elements in the lixivium can be extracted completely into the organic phase, and the stripping recovery of the rare earth can reach 98% in the extraction stage. The total recoveries of rare earth, nickel and cobalt are 98.9%, 98.4% and 98.5%, respectively.
Key words:  solid waste materials; hydrogen-nickel battery; recovery; rare earth
Superintended by The China Association for Science and Technology (CAST)
Sponsored by The Nonferrous Metals Society of China (NFSOC)
Managed by Central South University (CSU) 湘ICP备09001153号-9