Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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PRODUCTION OF PURE MAGNESIUM CHLORIDE SOLUTION
FROM SILICEOUS MAGNESIUM MINE~LS
This invention relates to the production of a high
purity magne~ium chloride solution (hereinafter also referred
to as a magnesium chloride liquor or brine) from siliceous
magnesium containing minerals, and more particularly from
serpentine mineral which is a component of asbestos tally-
ngs .
Pure magnesium chloride liquors are employed as
feedstock for the production of pure magnesium metal via the
electrolysis of molten magnesium chloride in electrolytic
cells, such as practiced by Dow Chemical Company and Norsk
Hydro. The conventional methods of generating magnesium
chloride brines for the current electrolytic processes are
the evaporation of salt lake water or recovery from sea
water. Based on available information, it is believed that a
lS process for the production of high purity magnesium chloride
brine from siliceous magnesium minerals has not been previ~
ously developed. According to Nagamori et al. (CIM Bulletin,
Vol. 73 (824), 1980 and Yol. 75 (838), 1982), the only com-
mercial use of serpentine is found in dry processes such as
2~ the production of fused magnesium phosphate fertilizer.
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The major drawback to the use of silicate minerals is the
formation of silic~ gels which hitherto has prevented the
recovery of magnesium from such sources, although there are
several instances of processes being proposed (Nagamori et
al. above, Houston, Trans. A.I.M.E. Vol. 182, 1949, Bengtson
et al., Canadian Patent 791,613, August 6, 1968, and Butt et
al., U.S. Patent 2,398,493, April 16, 1946). However, not
one of these processes has operated commercially. ~hese
processes all stress the difficulty of extracting magnesium
from silicate minerals, and of the problems encountered with
the formation of siliceous residues which are extremely dif-
ficult to filter. Both Houston and Butt et al., for example,
stress the need to operate at as high a temperature as pos-
sible (close to 100C) in order to maximize magnesium extrac-
tion and avoid the formation of a gelatinous fo~m of silica.Bengtson et al. require that the temperature be raised to the
boiling point in order to generate a slurry with satisfactory
filtration charactsristics. The degree of acid strength ac-
ceptable in these processes varies considerably, from 20% up
to concentrated acid (38%). At such acid strengths and high
temperatures (>90C), there is a considerable loss of
hydrogen chloride reactant in the acid mist. This loss mini-
mizes the reaction efficiency, and necessitates the use of
expsnsive, corrosion-proof gas recovery systems.
All the processes cited generate an impure brine.
Nagamori et al. recommend the initial calcining of the sili-
cate mineral to make it more reactive, and to convert it to a
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form more easily filtered. Purification is effected by rais-
ing the pH to 8-9 by the addition of further calcine. Butt
et al. adopted a similar approach, adding calcined silicate
mineral to effect some degree of purification, and further
adding a source of magnesia to raise the pH to 7.6 to effect
final purification. This method of purification is very in-
efficient, magnesium utilization being only 20-50% at these
pH values, and furthermore, the brines are prone to
hydrolysis, precipitating magnesium hydroxy-chlorides. The
net effect, in raising the pH to such high levels with mag-
nesia, is to considerably reduce the overall magnesium ex-
traction to unacceptable levels. The use of magnesia for
purification is very expensive and it is for such reasons
that none of the proposed processes have attained commer-
cialisation.
It is the object of the present invention to provide amethod where~y magnesium can be extracted into a high purity
brine from silicate minerals without the ~ormation of a
silica gel and without boiling the slurry. Such process
i~ believed to have considerable economic advantages over
more conv~ntional methods of generating magnesium chloride
brines, such as the evaporation of salt lake water or
recovery from sea water.
The process in accordance with the present invention
comprises the steps of leaching the siliceous magnesium
mineral with a hydrochloric acid solution at a temperature
higher than 50C but below the boiling point and in such a
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manner as to maintain the pH of the slurry below 1.5 to
prevent the formation of silica gel, reacting such slurry
with a reactive magnesia in order to raise the pH to 4.0-7.0
to precipitate substantially all the impurities from solution
while preventing silica gel formation, and performing a
solid/liquid separation of the slurry on suitable filtration
equipment to obtain pure magnesium chloride liquor.
The hydrochloric acid solution is preferably 20-25% HCl
and the tem~erature of the slurry in the range of 50-105C,
most preferakly between 80-90C. The pH of the slurry is
preferably maintained in the range o~ 0.7-0.8.
The reactive magnesia may be calcined magnesite or mag-
nesium oxide generated by spray roasting of magnesium
chloride.
Filtration may be performed at about pH 4.5 to remove
the bulk of the impurities followed by addition of caustic
soda to raise the pH ~rom 4.5 to 6.0-7.0 to remove virtually
all the impurity elements whilst minimizing the co-
precipitation o~ magnesium. The solids precipitated with
caustic soda are preferably returned to the leaching stage
for the recovery of co-precipitated magnesium. Chlorine gas
is preferably sparged through the slurry prior to the addi-
tion of caustic soda to oxidize any remaining iron to the
ferric state and also oxidize most o~ the manganese to solid
manganese dioxide which can be removed by filtrationO
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The magnesium chloride liquor is th~n further purified
by ion-exchange to remove trace amounts of impurities such as
boron or nickel.
The invention will now be disclosed, by way of example,
with reference ~o the accompanying drawing which is a
general flowsheet of the process in accordance with the in-
vention.
Silicate mineral, such as serpentine which is found in
the tailings resulting from the mining and recovery of asbes-
tos, is treated in a two stage leach and purification flow-
sheet. In the first stage 10, hydrochloric acid (which can
be generated on site if electrolytic magnesium is being
produced from the magnesium chloride brine~ is combined with
wash water to give acid of strength 20-25%, and the silicate
material added to this acid to raise the pH to 0.7-0.8 at a
temperature of 80-90oc. It is understood that acid of any
suitable concentration may be used, being dependent upon the
level of magnesium in the feed material. Provided the tem
perature is higher than 50C, the reaction proceeds at an ac-
ceptable rate, the optimum temperature being in the range of80-90C. Higher temperatures result in the loss of sig-
nificant quantities of acid mist. The pH must be maintained
below 1.5 in order to prevent the formation of silica gel,
from which it is impossi~le to recover any signi~icant quan-
tity of leach solution. The optimum pH for extraction ofmagnesium and maximum utilisation of silicate material is
0.7-0.8.
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During the leaching of the silicate mineral, most of
the iron, chromium, copper~ zinc, manganese, aluminum,
nickel, boron and other base metals are co-extracted and
report to the leach solution. In the first part of the
puri~ication stage (neutralisation stage 12a), it has been
found that by rapidly raising the pH to 4.0~4.5 using a reac-
tive form of magnesia, either a calcined magnesite or mag-
nesia generated by spray roasting of the brine p~oduced in
this flowsheet, the impurities can largely be precipitated,
and silica gel formation avoided. The reactive magnesia can
also ~e used to raise the pH to 6.0-7.0, to effect virtual
complete precipitation of the impurity elements, but the ef-
ficiency of utilisation drops of~ rapidly at pH >5Ø In a
flowsheet which produces magnesium metal via electrolysis,
however, it is preferable to use caustic soda to raise the pH
from 4~0-4O5 to 6.0-7.0, preferably 6.5 as illustrated in
neutralisation stage 12b, since sodium is required as flux in
the electrolytic cell, and the ef~iciency of utilisation of
caustic soda as a neutralising agent is close to one hundred
percent. Neutralisation to pH ~7.0 results in the co-
precipitation o~ appreciable quantities of magnesium
hydroxy-chlorides, hence the preferred pH is 6.5, this being
sufficiently high to remove virtually all of the impurity
elements, whilst minimizing the co-precipitation of mag-
nesium. Chlorine gas, yenerated during the electrolysis ofmolten magnesium chloride, can be sparged through the solu-
tion prior to the addition of caustic soda. This has the ad-
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vantage of oxidizing any remaining iron to the ferric state,thereby making pH control at 6.5 very much simpler, and also
of oxidizing most of the manganese to solid manganese
dioxide, which can be removed by filtration. Chlorine is the
preferred oxidant in a flowsheet producing electrolytic mag-
nesium, but other oxidants such as hydrogen peroxide can be
used with equal facility.
It is preferable to effect filtration at pH 4.5 as il-
lustrated by S/L separation stage 14, prior to addition of
1~ the caustic soda solutionl since this removes the bulk of the
solids, and has also been found to reduce the caustic re-
quirement. The solids produced at pH 6.5 contain a sig-
nificant amount of magnesium, and these can be separated in
stage 16 and returned to the leaching stage 10 for the
recovery of the magnesium.
Remaining trace amounts of in particular boron and
nickel can be removed by the use of ion exchange methods in
ion exchange stage 18. It has been found that the Dow resin
XFS-4135 is very effective in removing nickel to <0.5 mg/L
(and at the same time removes any trace amounts of manganese
to <0.5 mg/L), and that boron can be removed to similar k'
(-tr a de ~G~ ~ )
levels by use of the Rohm and Haas resin Amberlite~743. Ion
exchange has not been used previously to purify magnesium
chloride brines. The ion exchange resin has been used to
remove nickel from cobalt sulphate solutions, but this is its
first application in chloride mediumO Boron is normally
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removed via solvent extraction, as disclosed by Folkestad et
al. (U.S. Patent 3,855,392, December 17, 1974). Ion exchange
is much more preferable for large solution volumes than sol-
vent extraction/ since it is much easier to operate.
The resulting magnesium chloride liquor is exception-
ally pure, containing <1 mg~L of any of the significant im-
purities listed above.
EXAMPLE 1
150 g of asbestos tailings (23.9% Mg, 6.42% Fe, 34.3% SlO2)
were added to 0.5 L of 20~ hydrochloric acid at 85 C over a
period of 120 minutes. A pH of 0.74 was attained, giving a
magnesium extraction of 87.2% and iron extraction of 82.4%.
The pH of the slur~y was then rapidly raised to 4.51 with the
addition of 7.1 g of spray roasted magnesia (60.1% Mg), and
the corresponding overall magnesium and iron extractions were
15 85.6% and 8.3% respectively. Addition of GauStic soda solu-
tion to the pH 4.51 filtrate to raise the pH to 6.5 gave a
final solution analysing 65.1 g Mg/L, 58 mg Mn/L, and <1 mg/L
Fe, Cr, Al, Ni and Cu.
EXAMPLE 2
Asbestos tailings ~20.0~ Mg, 4.83% Fe, 0.18% Ni, 0.057% Mn)
Z0 were added in increments to 0.5 L of concentrated ~36.5%)
hydrochloric acid at 80 C. At pH 0~ the extractions of mag-
nesium, iron, nickel and manganese were 90.3%, 93.3%, 94.8%
and 75.9~ respectively, and at pH 1.0 were ~6.6%, 90.1~,
91.9% and 73.1% respectively. Filtration at both pH valuas
was excellent, resulting in cakes containing 35.3~ moisture
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at pH 0, and 43.7% at pH 1Ø Addition of further tailings
increased the pH slowly, until a value of pH 1.68 was at-
tained, at which point the slurry b~came very viscous and
then formed a gel. Addition of water or acid did not dis-
perse the gel, and no liquor could be recovered from the gel.This test clearly demonstrates that gels are relatively
easily formed when leaching silicate minerals.
EXAMPLE 3
140 g of the same asbestos tailings as used in example l were
added to 0.5 L of 20% hydrochloric acid at 85 C, to raise the
pH of the slurry to 0.73. Magnesium and iron extractions
were 87.8% and 86.3% respectively. The pH of the slurry was
then raised to 4.50 by the addition of 7.0 g of calcined mag-
nesite concentrate (60.0~ Mg), and the resultant slurry fil-
tered. Magnesium and iron extractions were 84.4~ and 13.1%
respectively. Addition of caustic soda solution to raise the
final pH to 6.5 gave a final solution analysing 64.9 g Mg~L,
80 mg Mn/L, 14 mg Ni/L, and <1 mg/L each of Fe, Cr, Al and
Cu .
These examples demonstrata that good magnesium extrac-
~ tion and a pure magnesium chloride brine can be ob~ained by
the two-stage leach and purification flowsheet, without the
formation of silica gels. The process will now be further
demonstrated by refPrenca to the following example of a pilot
scale continuous test.
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~XAMPLE 4
Asbestos tailings (23.7% Mg, 5.1% Fe) were added continuously
at a rate of 400-410 g/minute to the first of three lOo-L
tanks in a cascade. Concentrated hydrochloric acid (0.74
L/minute) and wash water (0.75 L/minute) were also simul-
taneously added, the rates of acid and wash water additionbeing controlled by the pH of the slurry in the third tank
(0.69), and the temperature was maintained at 80 85 C. Mag-
nesium extraction in this cascade was 86.0%. Calcined mag-
nesite (50.3% Mg, a source of reactive magnesia) was added
continuously to the fourth tank of the cascade, at such a
rate (23.1 g/minute) as to maintain the pH of the fifth tank
at 4.5. Magnesium extraction from the magnesite averaged
91.5%, giving an overall magnesium extraction of 86.8~.
The following two examples demonstrate the removal of
residual trace amounts of nickel and boron by the use of ion
exchange.
EXAMPLE 5
Magnesium chlorid0 brine, generated in the pilot te~ting
described in example 4, containing 6}.9% g Mg/L and 137 mg
B/L, was passed through a column, containing the ion exchange
resin Amberlite 743, at a flowrate of five bed volumes per
hour (5 BV/h) at ambient temperature. The analysis of the
solution exiting the column was ~0.2 mg B/L for the first
four bed volumes, and the resin was not fully loaded until
the passage of 60 BV. After 60 BV, the dry resin analysed
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0.77% B. It was found that the resin was very easily
stripped by 5 BV of 10% HCl, and the strip solution con-
centrated to 1.75 g B/L.
EXAMPLE 6
A further sample of magnesium chloride brine form the pilot
testing of example 4, containing 61.9 g Mg/L and 34.0 mg
Ni/L, was passed through an ion exchange column containing
the resin XFS-4195, at a flowrate of 10 BV/h. Analysis of
the solution exiting the column was ~0.5 mg Ni/L ~or the
first 60 BV, and the resin was not fully loaded even after
the passage of 1000 BV of feed solution. Stripping of the
partially loaded resin (6.31% Ni, 0.036% Mg, 0.~1% Mn) was
effected by 5 BV of 10~ HCl, generating a solution analysing
6.0 g Ni/L.
Although widespread throughout the world, silicate
minerals of magnesium are not used as feedstock for the
production of either high purity magnesia or high purity mag-
nesium metal. The major drawback to the use of silicate
minerals is the ease with which silica gels are produced.
The process herein described circumvents this problem by use
of the above disclosed two-stage leach and purification
process. Use of the ion exchange resins, whilst known tech-
nology in other fields, is not known to be used to generate
ultra-pure magnesium chloride liquors. The process in accor-
dance with the present invention uses a very low cost feed,
and converts an environmental liability, namely asbestos
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tailings (which contains silicate minerals of magnesium, such
as s~rpentine), into a valuable product (magnesium chloride)
and an environmentally acceptable leach residue.
