A commercial hydrometallurgical plant has been operating in Napanee, Ontario since 2008 leaching superalloy scrap with aqua regia and producing a high-grade tantalum/tungsten leach residue, a mixed nickel/cobalt hydroxide cake, and high-purity ammonium perrhenate as final products. The process involves batch leaching of crushed superalloy scrap followed by pressure filtration to produce a leach liquor containing rhenium, nickel, and cobalt and a leach residue that is high in tantalum and tungsten, which is sold. The leach liquor is neutralized in stages with soda ash and caustic soda to ~pH 10 to precipitate a mixed nickel/cobalt hydroxide cake, which is recovered by pressure filtration and sold. The rhenium pregnant leach solution is then processed by anion exchange with a strong base resin to extract and concentrate rhenium. Rhenium is stripped from the resin with strong ammonium thiocyanate solution, and the strip liquor is further concentrated by evaporation and freeze cooling to precipitate ammonium perrhenate. This paper will present results from the various unit operations and describe the many changes that have been implemented over the years to improve process efficiency, reduce operating costs, and improve the ability of the plant to handle diverse feeds.

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Hydrometallurgical Production of High-Purity Ammonium Perrhenate from Superalloy Scrap

  • C. J. Ferron,
  • J. Peer,
  • J. Andrews,
  • C. A. Fleming

摘要

A commercial hydrometallurgical plant has been operating in Napanee, Ontario since 2008 leaching superalloy scrap with aqua regia and producing a high-grade tantalum/tungsten leach residue, a mixed nickel/cobalt hydroxide cake, and high-purity ammonium perrhenate as final products. The process involves batch leaching of crushed superalloy scrap followed by pressure filtration to produce a leach liquor containing rhenium, nickel, and cobalt and a leach residue that is high in tantalum and tungsten, which is sold. The leach liquor is neutralized in stages with soda ash and caustic soda to ~pH 10 to precipitate a mixed nickel/cobalt hydroxide cake, which is recovered by pressure filtration and sold. The rhenium pregnant leach solution is then processed by anion exchange with a strong base resin to extract and concentrate rhenium. Rhenium is stripped from the resin with strong ammonium thiocyanate solution, and the strip liquor is further concentrated by evaporation and freeze cooling to precipitate ammonium perrhenate. This paper will present results from the various unit operations and describe the many changes that have been implemented over the years to improve process efficiency, reduce operating costs, and improve the ability of the plant to handle diverse feeds.