This thesis focuses on development of new regents which are suitable for recovering nickel, cobalt and copper from laterite leach solutions, specifically focusing on reagent requirements for novel base metal flowsheets developed by Anglo American. The work aims to design reagents which can extract nickel(II), cobalt(II) and copper(II) from a highly acidic aqueous sulfate solutions whilst showing selectivity over iron(II) and iron(III). Chapter 1 reviews current extractive metallurgy processes for separating and concentrating metals in laterite ores and describes new flowsheets proposed by Anglo American. Chapter 2 considers whether single reagent molecules with sets of tridentate donor atoms can generate sufficiently stable nickel(II) complexes to allow selective extraction of nickel from an aqueous sulfate solution. The salicylaldimines, 3-X-4-alkyl-6-(quinolin-8-imino)phenol, 3-X-4-alkyl-6-(2- methoxyphenylimino)phenol and 3-X-4-alkyl-6-(2-thiomethoxyphenylimino)phenol (alkyl = tert-butyl or tert-octyl; X = H, Br or NO2), were selected for study. The synthesis and characterisation of these proligands and their nickel(II) complexes are reported. XRD structures of Br-substituted salicylaldimines and their nickel(II) complexes are compared and discussed. The 4-tert-octylsalicylaldimines were used to extract nickel(II) from an aqueous sulfate solution with a pH > 2.8 and 3- nitro-4-tert-octyl-6-(quinolin-8-imino)phenol was found to be the strongest extractant in the series with a pH0.5 of 3.5. Computational studies of an analogous series of salicylaldimine proligands in the gas phase calculated the formation energies of their nickel(II) complexes and the predicted trend follows the experimentally determined solvent extraction results. Chapter 3 investigates modifications to phenolic pyrazoles, which are known copper(II) extractants. A series of 6-X-4-methyl-2-(5-alkyl-1H-pyrazol-3-yl)-phenols (X = H, OMe, Br and NO2) was synthesised and characterised. Varying the 6-X-substituent of the phenolic pyrazole altered the strength of copper extraction and 6-nitro-4-methyl-2-(5-(1,3,5-tri-methyl-pentyl)-1H-pyrazol-3-yl)-phenol was found to be the strongest extractant in the series. Analysis of XRD structures of related phenolic pyrazoles and their copper(II) complexes showed evidence of inter- and intra-molecular hydrogen bonding. Computational DFT studies in the gas phase were carried out to calculate the formation energies of analogous phenolic pyrazole copper complexes. The predicted order of these energies followed the same trend shown by experimental solvent extraction studies. The double deprotonation of 4-tert-butyl-(pyrazol-3-yl)-phenol at high pH forms a polynuclear complex in the organic phase with a copper(II) to ligand ratio of 1:1, thereby increasing the mass transport efficiency of copper by the reagent. The synthesis and characterisation of the [Cu16(4-tert-butyl-(pyrazol-3-yl)- phenolate)16(EtOH)4(H2O)2] wheel complex was carried out to demonstrate how such polynuclear copper(II) complexes could be formed under solvent extraction conditions. Chapter 4 explores the solvent extraction of nickel(II) and cobalt(II) by novel combinations of neutral nitrogen-donor heterocyclic ligands with organic acids, such as dinonylnaphthelenesulfonic acid (DNNSAH). The synthesis and characterisation of 2,6-bis(5-alkyl-1H-pyrazol-3-yl)-pyridine, 2-(5- alkyl-1H-pyrazol-3-yl)-pyridine and 5,5'-alkyl-3,3'-bi-1H-pyrazole (alkyl = tert-butyl or nonyl) and their nickel(II) complexes were reported. Also reported are synthesis and 6-N-alkyl-2-(2-pyridinyl)- benzothiazole (alkyl = n-butyl or n-decyl) and 2-(1-Isopropyl-benzimidazol-2-yl)-pyridine. The extraction of nickel(II) from highly acidic mixed metal aqueous sulfate solutions by some of these ligands was studied. These synergistic mixtures demonstrated remarkable strength and selectivity for nickel(II), and cobalt(II) over iron(II). XRD structures of nickel(II) complexes of 2,6-bis(5-tert-butyl- 1H-pyrazol-3-yl)-pyridine, 2-(5-tert-butyl-1H-pyrazol-3-yl)-pyridine and 5,5'-tert-butyl-3,3'-bi-1Hpyrazole with sulfonates or perchlorates as ion-pairs have intermolecular hydrogen bonding interactions between the inner-sphere ligands and the counterions.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:700076 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Roebuck, James William |
| Contributors | Bailey, Philip ; Tasker, Peter ; Love, Jason |
| Publisher | University of Edinburgh |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/1842/17976 |
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