Critical Elements Recovery from Acid Mine Drainage

The rapid development of advanced technologies has led to an increase in demand for critical elements that are essential in the manufacturing of high-tech products. Among these critical elements, manganese (Mn), cobalt (Co), and nickel (Ni) are used in the production of batteries, electronics, and other advanced applications. The demand for these elements has been growing exponentially in recent years, driven by the rise of electric vehicles, renewable energy, and other emerging technologies. However, the United States is heavily dependent on foreign sources of critical minerals and on foreign supply chains, resulting in the potential for strategic vulnerabilities to both economy and military. To address this problem and reduce the Nation's vulnerability to disruptions in the supply of critical minerals, it is important to develop critical minerals recycling technologies. A systematic study was conducted to develop a process for producing high-purity Mn, Co, and Ni products from an acid mine drainage (AMD). As major contaminants, Fe and Al in the solution were sequentially precipitated and eliminated by elevating the pH. After that, a pre-concentrated slurry containing Mn, Co, Ni, and Zn was obtained by collecting the precipitates formed in the pH range of 6.50 to 10.00. The pre-concentrated slurry was redissolved for further purification. Sodium sulfide was added into the redissolved solution to precipitate Co, Ni, and Zn selectively while retaining Mn in the solution. Almost 100% of Co, Ni, and Zn but only around 15% of Mn were precipitated using a sulfur-to-metal molar ratio of 1 at pH 4.00. The sulfide precipitate was calcined and then completely dissolved. The critical elements existing in the dissolved solution were efficiently separated using a two-stage solvent extraction process. Ultimately, Co and Ni products with almost 94% and 100% purity were obtained by sulfide and alkaline precipitation, respectively. AMD also contains rare earth elements (REEs), which can be recovered through selective chemical precipitation. REE removal improved at pH 4.0 after converting ferrous to ferric ions with H2O2. Aluminum species in the solution hindered REE adsorption on ferric precipitates, and ferrous ions reduced REE adsorption on aluminum precipitates at lower pH, but at higher pH, REE removal increased due to ferrous ion precipitation. Various tests and analyses were conducted to understand the partitioning mechanisms of REE during the precipitation process of AMD. Sulfide precipitation is crucial to separate Mn from other elements, but the presence of contaminants like Fe and Al can affect sulfide precipitation efficiency. The effects of Al3+ iii and Fe2+ on the precipitation characteristics of four valuable metals, including Mn2+, Ni2+, Co2+, and Zn2+, were investigated by conducting solution chemistry calculations, sulfide precipitation tests, and mineralogy characterizations. It was found that the ability of the valuable metals to form sulfide precipitates followed an order of Zn2+ > Ni2+ > Co2+ > Mn2+. The sulfide precipitate of Zn2+ was the most stable and did not re-dissolve under the acidic condition (pH 4.00 ± 0.05). In addition, the sulfide precipitation of Zn2+ was barely affected by the contaminant metal ions. However, in the presence of Al3+, the precipitation recoveries of Mn2+, Ni2+, and Co2+ in a solution containing all the valuable metals were noticeably reduced due to simultaneous hydrolysis and competitive adsorption. The precipitation recoveries of Ni2+ and Co2+ in solutions containing individual valuable metals also reduced when Fe2+ was present, primarily due to competitive precipitation. However, the recovery of Mn2+ was enhanced due to the formation of ferrous sulfide precipitate, providing abundant active adsorption sites for Mn species. In the solution containing all the valuable metals, Fe2+ promoted the recoveries of the valuable metals due to the higher concentration of Na2S and the formation of ferrous sulfide precipitate.