Following the trail. Waste products of Nickel.

shop deals on amazon
Advertise with us
Shop deals on ebay
xelexo
Gold Refining Forum

Help Support Gold Refining Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
N

NobleMetalsRecovery

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 6, 2007
Messages
338
Location
USA
I would like some feedback on the following topic please.

I want to focus on just a single element, Nickel, and nothing else for the moment. Where ever you find gold plated computer scrap, I believe it will almost always have nickel under it. The metal plating sequence for gold is, copper, nickel, then gold.

Since nickel is always present with gold plating, and since nickel salts are carcinogenic, I would like to trace the waste stream of nickel. I'm hoping to see the entire journey that nickel takes in our refining processes, and where it finally ends up (and in what form) for final disposal or recycling.

Since there are so many different ways to process the gold, I realize the path that nickel takes will vary, but I'm most interested in where it finally ends up, and what becomes of it at that last stage of it's journey.

Thanks in adavance for any insights.
 
How does it go from "the stock pot" to becoming NiO?
The stock pot is usually a mix of metal salts in solution. Do you isolate the nickel somehow?
 
From Wiki:

Health risks​

Long-term inhalation of NiO is damaging to the lungs, causing lesions and in some cases cancer.[11]

The calculated half-life of dissolution of NiO in the blood is more than 90 days.[12] NiO has a long retention half-time in the lungs; after administration to rodents, it persisted in the lungs for more than 3 months.[13][12] Nickel oxide is classified as a human carcinogen[14][15][16][17][18][19] based on increased respiratory cancer risks observed in epidemiological studies of sulfidic ore refinery workers.[20]

In a 2-year National Toxicology Program green NiO inhalation study, some evidence of carcinogenicity in F344/N rats but equivocal evidence in female B6C3F1 mice was observed; there was no evidence of carcinogenicity in male B6C3F1 mice.[14] Chronic inflammation without fibrosis was observed in the 2-year studies.
 
Yes, nickel is carcinogenic. So are many other thing we confront in refining - like NOx gasses etc. If you wear proper safety equipment and don´t smear it on your skin or inhale the dust... I think you will be fine :) Ordinary respirator and good gloves and goggles should protect you fairly well from NiO dust.
 
Yes, I agree on all points. I'm not overly concerned, just want to know which items require the most respect when handling.

Still waiting for someone to chime in. Would like to know how to separate nickel salts from the other salts in my stock pot.

Lou mentioned that the NiO goes back into stainless steel. Does that mean there are buyers for NiO, small scale?

If not, it looks like NiO can be reduced to nickel metal by heating with carbon.
 
If you give it enough time all nickel should cement out on iron in the iron pot, i think.
Edited:
According to the reactivity series, it will be in with the cemented copper as nickel metal.
Any traces left will come out in the hydroxides.
Martijn.
 
Last edited:
Yes, thank you.

But so will the copper, and most likely some other metals.

Once again. Still wondering how the NiO is separated from other metal compounds or salts?

I know that I'm persisting with my question. I don't have a need to a quick answer. Would like a little info before my next experiment.
 
It’s not separated. It gets cemented out on iron as a metal in elemental form, not as a salt. Being a base metal of low value in minute quantities, it gets dumped in the trash along with the copper and traces of other non valuable metals.
 
NobleMetalsRecovery said:
How does it go from "the stock pot" to becoming NiO?
The stock pot is usually a mix of metal salts in solution. Do you isolate the nickel somehow?
Click to expand...
I think it comes out as nickel metal in the iron pot. It then may partially oxidize.
The copper can be refined in the copper cell. To leave other base metals in the slimes for further separation.

Maybe you can find your answer here:
https://www.britannica.com/technology/nickel-processing/Extraction-and-refining
 
Most of what I work with has Ni in it along with PGMs, so this ends up as a filter cake containing hydroxides which ends up being recycled for the value of the nickel. It's not an insignificant value either--there's a strong incentive to recycle nickel when it's over even $6/lb.
 
Now I understand. You're not working with a mixed bag of base metals. You're going after PGMs with the main (or only) base metal being Ni.

I thinking more in line with the contents of a "stock pot" which usually has a mix of different base metals, and I had thought that you were somehow separating the Ni from the Cu, etc.

Thank you, all is now clear as mud, LOL.
 
One can separate the Ni, Co, Cu etc from Zn, Fe but in general, it's not worth it. Better to practice isolation of waste streams to keep Cu from Ni.
I know that Cu is not very well desired in Ni and the reverse to be true at the smelter but is accepted within tolerance. It's possible to have a Ni containing PM feed that gets recovered just like a Cu containing PM feed...both electrolytically, both in cells.

I don't really process e scrap, at this point in my career most of what I handle is refinery intermediates from other precious metals refiners.
 
NobleMetalsRecovery said:
I will look at the info on Britannica. Did you see earlier in this post where Lou says:



So, he is saying that he is isolating the waste Ni as NiO.
Click to expand...

I think Lou is only saying that when we offer our waste metals, oxides and hydroxides for proper waste disposal or recycling, these will eventually end up being sent as NiO (along with the other metal hydroxides) for alloying to make stainless steel. Not that he is isolating nickel and converting to NiO.

Correct me if I'm wrong Lou.
 
Last edited:

Latest posts

Back
Top