Department of Inorganic Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry and Electrochemistry RCH1

Project team

1. Julia Paris
2. Maciej Prudel
3. Karina Kwoka
4. Michał Rabiej
5. Dawid Sobczak
6. Wojciech Lisieński

Supervisors

1. Dr hab. eng. Piotr Dydo, prof. PŚ
2. Dr eng. Andrzej Milewski
3. Dr eng. Dymitr Czechowicz

Mentors:

1. Dr eng. Dorota Babilas
2. Msc. eng. Ewa Szydłowska-Braszczak
3. Sebastian Górecki

Design assumptions:

The subject of the project is to develop a technological concept for the recovery of nickel from examples of liquid waste generated in the process of utilization of used catalysts used in crude oil processing (petrochemical) processes. In these processes, carried out at the Institute of Non-Ferrous Metals in Legnica, liquid acidic waste is produced, containing mainly salts due to the content of individual metals. This waste can be recycled mainly for the recovery of nickel or its compounds, due to the high content of this metal, exceeding 10 kg/m3. Nickel is a metal of great industrial and strategic importance, with a relatively high market price. It is one of the components of stainless steels, in which it is the most expensive component. It is also a component of non-ferrous alloys (e.g. INCONEL alloys), and compounds of this metal are used in electroplating processes (nickel plating); they are also used in modern lithium-ion batteries as an anode. Due to such a wide use and the limited availability of nickel minerals in nature, it is necessary to recover this metal or its compounds from all waste.

To be economically and ecologically profitable, the nickel recovery process must be carried out in a selective manner, allowing the separation of nickel compounds with high efficiency and obtaining products of high purity. The selection of nickel recovery technologies requires a series of analyses, including literature analysis, and laboratory tests of the effectiveness of various methods of selective separation and isolation of nickel compounds and other metals from a given waste.

The research proposed in the project will allow for the selection of the most advantageous method of recovering nickel from the waste in question. It is planned to consider the use of the following methods for selective separation of nickel from other metals: chemical precipitation, extraction with re-extraction and precipitation or crystallization, and selective sorption with desorption and precipitation or crystallization.