Manufacture of Nickel

Sulfide ores are usually concentrated by mechanical upgrading and flotation processes at the mine. The nickel concentrate is then transported to the refinery for py-rometallurgical treatment j fter a roasting, to drive off part of the sulfur as sulfur dioxide SOj, the material is melted with a siliceous flux. This primary smelting forms two liquid phases, one a sihcate slag and one a sulfide phase, a low-grade matte, containing nickel and copper but also some iron. 

The nickel smelting industry has drawn public attention to emissions of sulfur dioxide, which are detrimental to the environment. The Finnish company Outokumpu has developed a nickel flash smelting process, totally without converters. There were several economic motives for this, but the main reasons were to reduce sulfur emissions and to improve the working conditions. 

As has been said in Chapter 7 Copper, it is characteristic of flash smelting technology that powdered ore concentrate is suspended in an oxygen-enriched air and roasted and melted in a single process step. The reactions are strongly exothermic and the particles melt to form matte and slag [31.3]. 

The Direct Outokumpu Nickel (DON) process makes converting unnecessary, which is an important improvement environmentally. Now there is only one low, constant and highly concentrated flow of SO -rich gas from the flash smelting furnace, instead of the greatly fluctuating flow of converter gas of the conventional process. 

The resulting matte, granulated directly from the furnace, has a low iron content, 2-4% Fe, but is high in nickel, 60-70% Ni. The nickel content of the slag is, howev- 

---

Nickel sulfate also is made by the reaction of black nickel oxide and hot dilute sulfuric acid, or of dilute sulfuric acid and nickel carbonate. The reaction of nickel oxide and sulfuric acid has been studied and a reaction induction temperature of 49°C deterrnined (39). High purity nickel sulfate is made from the reaction of nickel carbonyl, sulfur dioxide, and oxygen in the gas phase at 100°C (40). Another method for the continuous manufacture of nickel sulfate is the gas-phase reaction of nickel carbonyl and nitric acid, recovering the soHd product in sulfuric acid, and continuously removing the soHd nickel sulfate from the acid mixture (41). In this last method, nickel carbonyl and sulfuric acid are fed into a closed-loop reactor. Nickel sulfate and carbon monoxide are produced the CO is thus recycled to form nickel carbonyl. 

Uses. Nickel nitrate is an intermediate in the manufacture of nickel catalysts, especially those that are sensitive to sulfur and therefore preclude the use of the less expensive nickel sulfate. Nickel nitrate also is an intermediate in loading active mass in nickel—alkaline batteries of the sintered plate type (see Batteries, SECONDARY cells). Typically, hot nickel nitrate symp is impregnated in the porous sintered nickel positive plates. Subsequendy, the plates are soaked in potassium hydroxide solution, whereupon nickel hydroxide [12054-48-7] precipitates within the pores of the plate. 

Nickel hydroxide is used to prepare nickel salts and nickel catalysts and in the manufacture of nickel-cadmium batteries. 

Clemens Alexander Winkler" 1838-1904. Professor of chemistry at the Freiberg School of Mines Pioneer in the analysis of gases. Manufacturer of nickel and cobalt He discovered the element germanium and made pioneer researches on indium... 

Cadmium (Cd) is a transition metal widely used in industry. Workers are exposed to cadmium in the manufacture of nickel cadmium batteries, pigments, low-melting-point eutectic materials, in solder, television phosphors, and in plating operations. 

In practice, nickel is the only metal which, when activated and finely divided, can be converted into the corresponding carbonyl Ni(CO)4 under mild conditions of temperature and pressure (equation 6). This compound, discovered by Mond and coworkers, has played an important role in both the development of nickel-catalyzed organic syntheses and in the technical manufacture of nickel. 

Use Manufacture of nickel ammonium sulfate, nickel catalysts, nickel plating, mordant in dyeing and printing textiles, coatings, ceramics. 

MITSUI MINING, at the request of a Japanese manufacturer of nickel-cadmium batteries, developed a distilling furnace which has remained at the prototype stage. 

EINECS 222-101-0 Formic acid, nickel(2 ) salt Nickel diformate Nickel formate. Used in manufacture of nickel compounds, including catalysts. Green crystals dec 180-200° 6 - = 2.154 soluble in H2O, insoluble in organic solvents. Mechema Chemicals Ud. 

Carbonic acid, nickel(2+) salt (1 1) EINECS 222-068-2 HSDB 1662 Nickel carbonate Nickel carbonate (NiC03) Nickel monocarbonate Nickel(2+) carbonate (NiCOa) Nickel(ll) carbonate Nickelous carbonate. Chemical intermediate in manufacture of nickel oxide, nickel powder, and nickel catalysts. Used in vacuum tubes and transistor cans, as a catalyst to remove organic contaminants from wastewater or potable water in the preparation of colored glass, of nickel pigments, as a neutralizing compound in nickel electroplating solution, and in the preparation of many specialty... 

Individual countries within the European Community handle the battery waste problem differently. For example, in Switzerland all used consumer batteries are considered hazardous waste and must be collected separately from ordinary household waste. Batteries must be recycled or stored in warehouses, not landfilled. A tax is collected on all new battery purchases to help defray the cost of recycling. In Italy, spent dry batteries are considered as hazardous waste and must be collected separately. In Sweden (10), the environmental issues relatii to waste batteries are addressed in the Control of Chemicals Bill and in the Decree on Environmentally Hazardous Batteries. All used batteries containing cadmium or mercury are collected separately under government control. The cadmium is then recycled. Regulations are in place for the manufacture of nickel/cadmium cells, limiting the exposure of workers and the emission of toxic materials. 

Nickel tetracarbonyl is used in the manufacture of nickel powder and nickel-coated metals, and as a catalyst in carboxylation, coupling, and cyclization reactions. It can form from the contact of carbon monoxide with nickel. 

The manufacturing of nickel-titanium rotary endodontic instruments, which involves machining of a wire blank into a variety of cross-sectional shapes that depend upon the particular product, is described in a recent review article [20], In that article it is stated that the nickel-titanium alloy for these instruments is in the superelastic condition, for which the alloy has the austenitic structure. This statement is highly plausible, because extensive reversible elastic strain (up to approximately 10% for uniaxial tension) could then occur in the instrument when the stress in the root canal reaches the level that causes transformation from austenite to martensite [21], The first published verification [22] of this superelastic condition was obtained by our research group from DSC experiments on nickel-titanium rotary instruments in the as-received condition. A subsequent study evaluated the rotary instruments after clinical use [23]. 

Among the binary halides, the fluorides RF3 are most easily obtained. Because of their stability against moisture and the constituents of air at ambient temperature, they may simply be prec itated from aqueous solutions of any soluble salt, chlorides, nitrates and so forth. In a subsequent step the crude material needs to be dried to remove any remaining water, preferably in an HF stream at 600 C. These steps must be carried out in inert containers, at ambient and slightly elevated temperatures in polyethylene or teflon containers and at higher temperatures in containers manufactured of nickel and its alloys, for example Monel, Cu32Ni68. 

Most world nickel production (>60%) is used in the making of stainless steels. Only approximately 13% of the world production of nickel is used in the manufacturing of nickel-based alloys. The most common nickel-based alloys are generally known by their commercial names such as Hastelloy, Inconel, Monel, and Incoloy alloys even though they all have a unique UNS number. For example, when people refer to Inconel alloy they are usually talking about the 600 series of alloys, for example alloy 600 (UNS N06600)or aUoy 625 (UNS N06625). 

---