Sustainable Mining and Metallurgy

The process effluent of a ternary precursor manufacturer mainly comes from its extraction system and synthesis system: the sodium sulfate effluent from the synthesis system has high alkalinity, and contains almost no heavy metals or organics; the extraction effluent is more complex, containing impurity organics and ions, including Ni²⁺、Mn²⁺、Zn²⁺、F^-、Cl^-. The impurities, organics, and pH value of the feed solution have a considerable effect on the evaporative crystallization process. Therefore, in the pre-evaporative crystallization treatment process, a series of unit operations were conducted by the manufacturer to remove the organics, heavy metals, and regulate the pH value of the feed solution. The issues in these unit operations were analyzed and suggestions for optimizing the process were made accordingly.