Optimum Treatment Time for Solid-State Extraction of Nickel from Nickel Sulfide Concentrates at 1073 K

Solid-state thermal treatment of Ni sulfide concentrates in an inert or reducing atmosphere, and the presence of metallic Fe is proposed as a feasible route to produce ferronickel (FeNi) alloy while retaining S in iron sulfides. The present work investigated the effects of temperature and amount of Fe addition via a thermodynamic analysis, giving a suitable temperature of 973 K to 1173 K and metallic Fe to Ni concentrates mass ratio of 0.5 to …