Nickel and cobalt separation and recovery by Recoflo ion exchange technology.

Recoflo utilises fine mesh resin beads, a fully packed resin bed and countercurrent regeneration to improve exchange kinetics, reduce regenerant consumption and increase the concentration of strip solutions. The technology, used in metal finishing since the mid 1970s, has recently been used for the recovery and separation of Ni from Co using the XFS 4195 chelating resin. Laboratory tests were conducted using Co electrolyte containing 93.3 g/l Co and 1.44 g/l Ni. A typical run resulted in a purified electrolyte with 84.8 g/l Co and 0.4 g/l Ni and a Ni bleed and rinse stream with 7.0 g/l Co and 2.9 g/l Ni. Compared with conventional ion exchange equipment, the Recoflo system uses 30% less acid and water and has a reduction in resin volume of more than 90%. Case studies are presented of full scale systems treating a Ni- and Co-bearing ammonium sulphate effluent stream and rinse-water from a Zn-Ni electrogalvanising plant and a duplex Ni plating operation.
Recoflo utilises fine mesh resin beads, a fully packed resin bed and countercurrent regeneration to improve exchange kinetics, reduce regenerant consumption and increase the concentration of strip solutions. The technology, used in metal finishing since the mid 1970s, has recently been used for the recovery and separation of Ni from Co using the XFS 4195 chelating resin. Laboratory tests were conducted using Co electrolyte containing 93.3 g/l Co and 1.44 g/l Ni. A typical run resulted in a purified electrolyte with 84.8 g/l Co and 0.4 g/l Ni and a Ni bleed and rinse stream with 7.0 g/l Co and 2.9 g/l Ni. Compared with conventional ion exchange equipment, the Recoflo system uses 30% less acid and water and has a reduction in resin volume of more than 90%. Case studies are presented of full scale systems treating a Ni- and Co-bearing ammonium sulphate effluent stream and rinse-water from a Zn-Ni electrogalvanising plant and a duplex Ni plating operation.