Direct recovery of metals from fluid anhydrous metal halides derived from marine nodule halidation
AssigneeDeepsea Ventures, Inc.
InventorsWilliam S. Kane, Hugh L. McCutchen, Paul H. Cardwell
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Abstract
This invention provides a process for separating metal values from an anhydrous mixture of metal halides in a fluid state, i.e. vapor or liquid; the separation is made by contacting a fluid mixture containing a halide of at least one less-noble metal selected from the group consisting of iron and manganese, and a halide of at least one more-noble metal selected from the group consisting of copper, cobalt and nickel, with an elemental metal. This procedure is especially effective in the refining of ocean floor nodule ores.
Claims16
A process for obtaining metal values from ocean floor nodule ores, the ore comprising as major components the oxides of manganese and iron and as secondary components compounds of copper, cobalt and nickel, the process comprising halidating the nodule ore to form the halides of iron, copper, cobalt, nickel and manganese;
- vaporizing these halides to form a vaporous mixture comprising as the primary components manganese halide and iron halide and as the secondary components copper halide, cobalt halide and nickel halide;
- separating the nickel, cobalt and copper by passing the vaporous mixture of halides in contact with elemental iron in order to precipitate metallic copper, cobalt and nickel directly from the vapor;
- and contacting the metallic copper, cobalt and nickel with an aqueous ammoniacal carbonate solution so as to form an aqueous solution comprising dissolved cobalt, nickel and copper, substantially free from dissolved manganese and iron;
- whereby the nickel, copper and cobalt values from the ocean floor nodule ore are separated from the primary manganese and iron components, thus rendering the further treatment to obtain these individual values in a pure state more accessible.
A process for obtaining metal values from ocean floor nodule ores, the ore comprising as major components the oxides of manganese and iron and as secondary components compounds of copper, cobalt and nickel, the process comprising halidating the nodule ore to form the halides of iron, copper, cobalt, nickel and manganese;
- vaporizing these halides to form a vaporous mixture comprising as the primary components manganese halide and iron halide and as the secondary components copper halide, cobalt halide and nickel halide;
- separating the nickel, cobalt and copper by passing the vaporous mixture of halides in contact with elemental manganese in order to precipitate metallic iron, copper, cobalt and nickel directly from the vapor and separating the remaining vapor therefrom;
- and selectively separating cobalt, nickel and copper from the iron by contacting the metallic cobalt, nickel, copper and iron with an aqueous ammoniacal carbonate solution to selectively dissolve cobalt, nickel and copper so as to form an aqueous solution comprising dissolved cobalt, nickel and copper and substantially free from iron and manganese;
- whereby the nickel, copper and cobalt values from the ocean floor nodule ore are separated from the primary manganese and iron components, thus rendering the further treatment to obtain these individual values in a pure state more accessible.
A process for obtaining metal values from ocean floor nodule ores, the ore comprising as major components the oxides of manganese and iron and as secondary components compounds of copper, cobalt and nickel, the process comprising halidating the nodule ore to form the halides of iron, copper, cobalt, nickel and manganese;
- vaporizing these halides to form a vaporous mixture comprising as the primary components manganese halide and iron halide and as the secondary components copper halide, cobalt halide and nickel halide;
- separating the nickel, cobalt and copper by passing the vaporous mixture of halides in contact with elemental manganese in order to precipitate metallic iron, copper, cobalt and nickel directly from the vapor and separating the remaining vapor therefrom, wherein the elemental manganese is substantially completely reacted to form manganese halide;
- and selectively separating cobalt, nickel and copper from the iron by contacting the metallic cobalt, nickel, copper and iron with an aqueous ammoniacal carbonate solution to selectively dissolve cobalt, nickel and copper so as to form an aqueous solution comprising dissolved cobalt, nickel and copper and substantially free from iron and manganese;
- whereby the nickel, copper and cobalt values from the ocean floor nodule ore are separated from the primary manganese and iron components, thus rendering the further treatment to obtain these individual values in a pure state more accessible.
A process for obtaining metal values from ocean floor nodule ore, the ore comprising as major components the oxides of manganese and iron and as secondary components compounds of copper, cobalt and nickel, the process comprising halidating the nodule ore by reacting with a molten alkali metal or alkaline earth metal halide to form the halides of copper, cobalt, nickel and manganese;
- vaporizing these halides to form a vaporous mixture comprising as the primary component manangese halide and as the secondary components copper halide, cobalt halide and nickel halide;
- separating the nickel, cobalt and copper by passing the vaporous mixture of halides in contact with elemental manganese in order to precipitate metallic copper, cobalt and nickel directly from the vapor and separating the remaining vapor therefrom;
- and contacting the metallic cobalt, nickel and copper with an aqueous ammoniacal carbonate solution to dissolve cobalt, nickel and copper so as to form an aqueous solution comprising dissolved cobalt, nickel and copper and substantially free from iron and manganese;
- whereby the nickel, copper and cobalt values from the ocean floor nodule ore are separated from the primary manganese components, thus rendering the further treatment to obtain these individual values in a pure state more accessible.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.