PREPARATION OF FERRONICKEL ALLOY NUGGET THROUGH REDUCTION ROASTING OF NICKEL LATERITE ORE

The process of reduction roasting of nickel laterite with rotary hearth furnace combined with magnetic separation becomes a very potential way to prepare ferronickel alloy, especially for the low grade nickel laterite ore. In order to realize this new process, the effect of roasting temperature, time and additive on the reduction degree were investigated in the laboratory experimental. The results indicated that the recovery rate of Ni increased with the roasting temperature increasing to 1500 degrees C. Most of nickel and a spot of iron are selectively reduced with adding 25.19% SiO2, 6.42% coal, and roasting for 60min at 1500 degrees C. Then conventional magnetic separation was carried out. The content of Ni and Fe are 7.50% and 59.08% in ferro- nickel nugget prepared by this method. And the recovery rate of Ni is 90.91%, which indicates that a high recovery of ferro- nickel from nickel laterite ore is achieved indeed.