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Pay attention to the new practice of enriched oxygen side blowing process in the field of laterite nickel ore

Due to the rapid development of the new energy vehicle industry, the demand for metal materials such as lithium, nickel, and cobalt in the upstream continues to increase rapidly. In the nickel metal field, due to the limited growth space of traditional nickel sulfide ore supply, new enterprises have focused on Indonesia, which is rich in laterite nickel ore resources and has a certain mining foundation. With the support of Qingshan Group, companies such as Huayou Cobalt, Zhongwei Co., Ltd., Greenway, Shengtun Mining, and Weiming Environmental Protection have successively gone to Indonesia to build laterite nickel ore smelting factories. In this process, based on their own strategic development needs, each company has different choices for smelting processes.

Overall, it can be divided into RKEF pyrometallurgical process, HPAL wet process, and the pyrometallurgical oxygen enriched side blowing process currently being explored in the industry. This article will mainly introduce the basic situation of the fire method oxygen enriched side blowing process and explore its future application prospects.

Process Introduction

According to the "Application and Prospects of Side Blown Immersion Combustion Melting Technology (SSC) in the Field of Laterite Nickel Mine", the side blown reduction technology for oxygen rich powder coal uses a multi-channel side blown nozzle to inject oxygen rich air and fuel (natural gas, producer gas, and powder coal) into the molten pool at subsonic speed. The materials in the molten pool are rapidly immersed in the melt due to the strong stirring effect of the blast, A strengthened melt pool melting technology used to complete physical and chemical reactions for handling non heating materials.

In terms of process flow, the oxygen rich side blowing process can handle medium to low grade laterite nickel ore. The ore first goes through a drying kiln for dehydration, and then undergoes deep drying and roasting after crushing and screening. Subsequently, the dried laterite nickel ore, reducing coal, flux, and circulating smelting smoke and dust are fed into the side blown immersion combustion furnace. Afterwards, oxygen-enriched air (about 70%) and powdered coal are blown into the molten pool through immersion combustion spray guns on both sides of the furnace body. The immersion combustion flame directly contacts the melt, while the injected oxygen-enriched air and coal powder stir the molten pool, strengthening the heat transfer of the molten pool and accelerating the reaction, causing the rapid melting of laterite nickel mineral material. The reduced coal particles are added from the furnace top to reduce the high nickel slag, ultimately obtaining nickel iron products.

Due to the presence of cobalt metal in Indonesia's laterite nickel ore, which requires both nickel and cobalt elements in downstream ternary precursors, the oxygen rich side blowing process in Indonesia will add a dilution electric furnace after nickel extraction to extract the remaining cobalt metal from the slag.

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According to the judgment of China ENFI, from the perspective of the long-term and stability of side blown immersion combustion molten pool smelting and the progressiveness of obtaining economic indicators, the conditions for large-scale industrialization are ripe. In addition to the economical investment and compact configuration, the prospect of using oxygen enriched side blown coal powder smelting reduction process to treat laterite nickel ore is optimistic, and this technology will be the preferred technology for upgrading the traditional laterite nickel ore process.

The side blowing process has cost and environmental advantages compared to other pyrotechnic processes

Based on the cost estimation of several pyrometallurgical processes by China Enfei, we can summarize the following points:

Side blowing process has processing cost advantages

The side blowing process leads the electric furnace process (REKF) and blast furnace process in terms of cost, using 1.8% grade laterite nickel ore. The cost of the side blowing process is 53725 yuan/ton, which is 12% lower than the electric furnace process and 35% lower than the blast furnace process, respectively. If we consider extracting cobalt metal in the later stage of the side blowing process, the cost advantage will be even greater.

The side blowing process can use low-grade laterite nickel ore

The side blowing process can use 1.0% grade laterite nickel ore, and the electric furnace process is not suitable for processing low-grade laterite nickel ore due to its high power consumption and high cost. Meanwhile, due to the large number of RKEF production lines in Indonesia, the demand for high-grade nickel ore is greater than that of low-grade nickel ore, resulting in higher prices for high-grade nickel ore than for low-grade ore.

The electric furnace process consumes a large amount of electricity, and there is a risk of policy restrictions in the future

The electric furnace process consumes 550 kWh of electricity per ton of ore, over 30000 kWh of electricity per ton of nickel, and 370% more electricity than the side blowing process, making it a high energy consuming industry. In the past, due to Indonesia's abundant coal resources, the construction of coal-fired power plants in the local area can effectively reduce power consumption costs. However, as China announced to build new overseas coal power projects in 2021, and State Power Corporation of China also announced that it would not build new coal-fired power plants after 2023, the power consumption problem of electric furnace process will gradually become prominent. If we switch to using new energy such as wind or photovoltaic power, the cost of the electric furnace process will significantly increase.

The side blowing process has advantages in reducing carbon emissions

As battery Carbon footprint tracking has become an industry requirement, the carbon emissions of upstream material production processes have also become an indicator for customer assessment. Analyze the carbon emissions of the pyroelectric furnace process and wet process. The carbon emissions per ton of nickel from the electric furnace process are 74.6 tons of carbon dioxide, while the wet process is 20.5 tons of carbon dioxide. The difference between the two is mainly in power consumption. The power consumption from wet process to Nickel(II) sulfate ton is 9300 degrees, and that from electric furnace process is about 35000 degrees. We calculate that the power consumption of processing low-grade laterite nickel ore to Nickel(II) sulfate by side blowing process is about 12000 degrees, which has obvious advantages over electric furnace process in reducing emissions.

Comparison between oxygen enriched side blowing process and HPAL wet process

As two mature industrialization processes in the past two years, the competition between the oxygen rich side blowing process and the HPAL wet process is also ongoing. Compared to HPAL, the advantages of the oxygen rich side blowing process are:

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Low investment intensity and short construction cycle.

Due to the relatively simple process of oxygen rich side blowing and the absence of high-pressure acid leaching, the equipment requirements are relatively low, so the initial investment is 50% lower than HPAL. At the same time, the construction period is generally 1-2 years, which is shorter compared to 2-3 years for wet projects. Of course, the HPAL project is also constantly summarizing its experience. For example, under the unfavorable conditions of nearly 10 months of COVID-19 interference, the Liqin OBI project achieved 28 months of construction and production, and 2 months of debugging to reach production standards, setting a benchmark for subsequent HPAL process projects.

The oxygen rich side blowing process can produce nickel iron while also taking into account the stainless steel market.

Due to different downstream customers' varying demands for product types, the oxygen rich side blowing process can produce nickel iron, thereby balancing the stainless steel market. And HPAL products are nickel cobalt intermediate products, mainly aimed at battery customers.

The process is relatively mature, with actual successful cases of pearl jade ahead.

Although the oxygen rich side blowing process has been widely used in other metal smelting, it has not been practiced in laterite nickel ore smelting before. In 2021, HPAL put into operation the PowerQin OBI project and the Huayou Huayue Nickel Cobalt project. The PowerQin project has climbed smoothly and its products have also entered the battery positive electrode industry chain. The performance of the oxygen rich side blowing process in specific practice still needs to be observed.

HPAL has lower costs and a significant cost advantage at high cobalt prices.

HPAL has a more comprehensive extraction of accompanying metal cobalt, a higher recovery rate, and a more prominent advantage under high cobalt prices. We believe that the cost of the whole process from the mature HPAL project to Nickel(II) sulfate is less than $10000, while the oxygen enriched side blowing process requires about $11000. If the recovery rate of cobalt from the oxygen enriched side blowing is lower than expected, the cost advantage of the wet process will be greater.

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