Study effect of carbon type of nickel extraction in thermal upgrading-selective reduction

Selective reduction can be applied with thermal upgrading that is the process for nickel extraction with holding temperature in the range 1150°C. The effect and type of reductor are the main factor during the selective reduction process which could control the percentage and grain size of nickel. With those factors, this research will be finding the variation of reductor type. The first step is saprolite and reductor characterization. The percentages of Ni, Fe, Mg, Al, and Si in saprolite are given in 1.82, 30.47, 10-20, 4.86, and 8.1 weight percent. Saprolite has 53.1 percent iron oxide/oxyhydroxide, 38.3 percent lizardite, and 8.7 percent silicate. For reductor, those are graphite, palm kernel shell, and anthracite with carbon percentage 98, 77, and 68. From XRF, the optimum nickel grade is in the graphite and anthracite with 6.5 and 7 wt.%. For phases, the ferronickel is appearing in the high intensity for the optimum reductor type and the microstructure is around 5-10 um for both. Moreover, the optimum reductor type are graphite and anthracite.