Extraction and separation of manganese and cobalt from cobalt sulfide concentrate leaching solution after removal of impurities using P204

The extraction of　manganese and cobalt from cobalt sulfide were investigated using a P204+sulfonated kerosene system. The effects of key parameters of P204, including P204 volume fraction, saponification degree of the organic phase, pH of the feed solution, phase ratio, reaction temperature, reaction time, stripping sulfuric acid concentration and stripping phase ratio on the extraction performance were investigated. The results show that under the optimum conditions of a P204 volume fraction of 40%, organic phase saponification degree of 80%, feed solution pH of 3.5, phase ratio of 3∶2, reaction temperature of 25 ℃, and reaction time of 10 min, a three-stage countercurrent extraction test was conducted on the cobalt sulfide concentrate. The test shows that the mass concentration of manganese in the raffinate was 1.76 g/L, corresponding to the extraction rate of 94.48%, while the cobalt mass concentration was 39.05 g/L with a cobalt extraction rate of only 2.57%. Under the optimum conditions of 1.5 mol/L sulfuric acid concentration and stripping phase ratio of 1∶2, a two-stage countercurrent stripping test achieved a manganese stripping rate of over 98%, enabling further effective separation of manganese and cobalt.