Effect of Microwave Heating on the Leaching of Lateritic Nickel Ore in Perchloric Acid

In this study, the leaching conditions of Sivrihisar (Adatepe) limonite type lateritic ore in acidic medium were investigated. Leaching experiments were carried out using conventional and microwave-assisted method. The effects of stirring speed, leaching temperature, perchloric acid concentration, solid/liquid ratio and particle size on conventional leaching were determined. Microwave-assisted leaching was carried out by using the optimum results of the conventional leaching. The pre-heating process was applied on different microwave powers (0, 90, 180, 360 and 600 W) and pre-processing time (0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 15 and 20 min). These experimental results demonstrated that acid leaching was a convenient method for Ni extraction from lateritic ore. The higher dissolution and the higher Ni recoveries in the microwave-assisted leaching process were obtained in less leach time.