Establishment of a Hydrometallurgical Scheme for the Recovery of Copper, Nickel, and Cobalt from Smelter Slag and Its Economic Evaluation

In pursuit of carbon neutrality, the demand for metals that are necessary development clean energy technologies is rapidly increasing. Metallurgical waste, such as slag, presents a promising secondary source these key metals. This research aims to develop an eco-friendly hydrometallurgical process recover Cu, Ni, and Co from discarded copper/nickel slag. High-pressure acid leaching (HPAL) was used selectively leach fayalite yielding high efficiencies 99.9%, 89.4%, respectively, with low Fe Si tenors pregnant solution (PLS). The solvent extraction (SX) technique utilizing LIX 984N extract enrich copper dilute PLS about 23 g/L Cu very concentration 0.05 g/L. Potassium amyl xanthate (PAX) form Ni complexes raffinate solution. Nickel recovered using ammonia solution, while cobalt complex thermally decomposed oxide solids 25 wt.% Co. A comprehensive flowsheet presented. Furthermore, realize real application developed slag cleaning process, preliminary economic evaluation performed.