Production of zinc powder from Co-Zn plant residue using selective alkaline leaching followed by electrowinning

Annually, gigagrams of cobalt residues, called hot filter cake (HFC), are produced from the Co neutralization step at Iranian zinc plants. With respect to the composition of HFC )i.e., 15-25% Zn, 0.5–1.5% Co, 3–8% Mn(, it can be used as a secondary source of zinc, cobalt and manganese. In the present study, for the first time, treatment of HFC for separation and recovery of zinc has been studied. The residue was treated by employing selective alkaline leaching, in order to recover the maximum amount of zinc, followed by zinc electrowinning process. As a results, a solution was obtained from alkaline leaching under the optimum condition of 75 °C, sodium hydroxide of 8 M, solid-to-liquid ratio dm3 of 1:10, and stirring speed of 600 rpm, having zinc recovery of 88.5 %. In the following step, the electrowinning process, under the optimum working conditions being current density 350 A/m2 and time 10 hours, was carried out to produce a zinc powder with high purity of 99 percent. Finally, a simple and effective conceptual flow diagram was proposed for the process.