Journal of the Korean Society of Mineral and Energy Resources Engineers ISSN:2288-0291(Print) 2288-2790(Online) 한국자원공학회지

A study on the leaching characteristics of Mn and Ni from manganese nodules and crust had been conducted through the reductive leaching with sulfur dioxide gas. The effects of solid density, reaction temperature and flow rate and partial pressure of SO2 on the leaching of Mn and Ni were examined. The results showed that the leaching efficiencies of Mn and Ni increased with increasing the reaction temperature and decreasing the solid density. And activation energy of the reduction reaction was 2.53 Kcal/mole for Mn and 2.78 Kcal/mole for Ni, respectively, which indicated the transportation of sulfur dioxide gas in the solution was rate determining step of this reaction. When manganese nodules of -20 mesh was leached for 100 minutes at solid dendity of 4.8 wt.% and 50oC with the SO2 gas of 0.3 atm and 60 ml/min, the leaching efficiencies of Mn and Ni were appeared to be more than 98%.