Effective utilization of jarosite waste

A method for recovery of metals from Jarosite waste for its effective utilization wherein, the method comprises:

• a) treating the Jarosite waste with nitric acid in a grinding machine further filtering it to obtain a filtrate consisting of lead nitrate, cadmium nitrate, iron nitrate, copper nitrate, nickel nitrate, zinc nitrate, aluminum nitrate, manganese nitrate, cobalt nitrate, magnesium nitrate and calcium nitrate and an insoluble residue consisting of sulfates of lead, cadmium and silver, ferric oxide, oxides of silicon, oxides of arsenic and compounds of iron, zinc, calcium, aluminum and silica;
• b) treating the residue obtained in step (a) with sulfuric acid in the presence of a reducing agent followed by filtration to obtain an acid insoluble residue consisting of compounds of silica, iron, and zinc and sulfates of lead, cadmium, calcium and silver and a filtrate consisting of ferrous sulfate, aluminum sulfate, zinc sulfate and calcium sulfate;
• c) combining the filtrate obtained from steps (a) and (b) followed by adding ammonia to the combined filtrate followed by filtration to obtain an insoluble residue consisting of iron hydroxide, aluminum hydroxide, lead sulfate, cadmium sulfate and calcium sulfate and a filtrate consisting of sulfates or nitrates of zinc, copper, calcium, magnesium, manganese, cobalt and nickel;
• d) reducing the residue obtained in step (c) at 800-1100° C. under reducing atmosphere to produce an elemental lead and cadmium;
• e) adding elemental zinc metal powder to the filtrate from step (c) to galvanically displace metals followed by filtration to recover elemental copper, manganese, cobalt and nickel and a residual solution followed by analyzing the residual solution for the absence of copper, manganese, cobalt and nickel;
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• f) concentrating the residual solution obtained in step (e) to obtain a mixture of zinc nitrate, zinc sulfate, calcium ammonium nitrate, magnesium nitrate, and ammonium nitrate to be used as fertilizer.