Process for the Production of Solutions of the Chlorides of Nickel and Cobalt and other Metals from the Ores or Products Contain- ing these Metals.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Dec., 1889-Accepted, 5th Apr., 1890
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Process for the Production of Solutions of the Chlorides of Nickel
and Cobalt and other Metals from the Ores or Products Contain-
ing these Metals.
Communicated by BERNARD NATUSCH, of Villa Trianon, Niederlossnitz, near Dresden,
German Empire, Merchant.
1, WILLIAM LLOYD WISE, of No. 46 Lincolns Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex;
Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
-
This invention has for its object the production of a pure solution of nickel or of cobalt
or of both direct from substances containing one or both of these metals such as ores
and artificial products. For this purpose the substance containing the nickel or cobalt
or both is, after being roasted (if necessary), heated or chlorodized at a red heat by
means of chloride of iron such as is produced as a bye product on a large scale in
certain chemical or metallurgical operations; and the resulting product lixiviated
with water.
In carrying out this invention nickel ores and cobalt ores containing sulphur or
arsenic are first calcined or roasted until complete oxidation and removal of the sulphur
or arsenic has been effected. Ores containing nickel or cobalt in the form of oxide
are simply roasted to drive off hygroscopic water or excess of oxygen. The roasted
material is then mixed with pulverized anhydrous ferrous chloride and for the purpose
of effecting a more intimate mixture may advantageously be moistened with a solution.
of ferrous chloride. After drying, this mixture is introduced into a roasting oven and.
roasted at a red heat until complete decomposition of the ferrous chloride present is
effected.
The reaction takes place according to one or other or both of the following
equations according to the state of oxidation of the nickel or cobalt.
The lumps of mixed material formed during the drying process fall to fine powder
during the roasting process. When a solution obtained by treating a test portion of
the roasted mass with water, ceases to contain any more iron, the roasting process
is finished.
The product is drawn into pans that can be of iron, and the nickel, or cobalt, or
both present therein, and which will have been completely transformed into chloride,
can be obtained as a solution free from iron, by treating the product with water.
Products obtained from smelting processes and containing nickel or cobalt or both
can also, after being pulverized, be subjected to a roasting process, and then further
treated in the manner hereinbefore described for obtaining the nickel or cobalt in
solution.

page_text: In order to ensure that the metals present shall be obtained with a minimum amount
of loss in one treatment, it is necessary that, as soon as the mixture is at a glowing or
red heat throughout there should be still some undecomposed ferrous chloride present,
because it seems that the re-action is not completely effected until this temperature is
reached.
With roasted raw ore containing 10 pe cent. of cobalt 5 per cent. of nickel, and
5 per cent. of copper, an addition of about 20 per cent. of ferrous chloride will be
found sufficient to ensure that nearly the whole of these metals (Co, Ni, & Cu) are
converted into a soluble form.
A charge of about 200 kilogrammes of such a mixture will require to be roasted
for one hour.
According to the amount of water employed in the lixiviation, there will be
obtained in a direct manner a more or less concentrated solution of nickel and cobalt,
and which, since it is free from iron, can be treated without loss and difficulty by usual
methods for the extraction of the nickel and cobalt therein.
By this invention nickel and cobalt can be obtained in solution in a comparatively
short time from all products containing these metals together with other metals that
may be present therewith, such as gold, silver, zinc, and copper a residue of pure
iron oxide capable of being utilized remaining as a residue of the lixiviating
operation.
The waste solutions of chloride of iron obtained in the manufacture of copper by
certain wet processes can be employed, these solutions, after any free acid that may
be present therein has been neutralized by the addition of small iron shot, being
evaporated to a firm consistency. The product containing nickel and cobalt can also
be directly mixed and evaporated with the solution of ferrous chloride, the free hydro-
chloric acid present dissolving any iron oxide and forming ferric chloride.
By making use of solutions of ferrous chloride such as can be obtained in large
quantities, as bye products of other operations, the cost of the process herein described
is rendered so small that it is covered by the value of the resulting product of iron
oxide alone.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
1 claim is :-
The production of a solution of nickel or cobalt or both (free from iron) from
substances containing these metals such as ores and artificial products, by heating
the previously roasted substance or substances to a red heat with chloride of iron,
whereby the nickel, or cobalt, or both, as well as other metals that may be present
such as gold, silver, zinc and copper, are transformed into soluble chlorides and after-
wards lixiviating the heated mass with water substantially as hereinbefore described.
Dated this 2nd day of December 1889
W. LLOYD WISE,
Per F. J. Brougham.