Atmospheric Leaching Behavior and Kinetics of Nickel and Cobalt from Halmahera Limonite Ore

Halmahera Island in Indonesia holds great potential for nickel laterite due to its geological setting. As the product of chemical weathering, nickel laterite can be divided into saprolite and limonite. Despite containing invaluable elements like nickel and cobalt, limonite ore is seldom used in metal production. This study evaluates these two elements’ leaching behavior and kinetics from the Halmahera deposit. Limonite ore was leached using 50 mL of 0.5 M sulfuric acid at an S/L ratio of 10% and 20%. The leaching process was conducted at 30°C, 50°C, and 80°C. The experimental results showed that the highest recovery for cobalt and nickel was 100% in the adequate presence of H+ ions. The result shows that sulfuric acid is more selective to cobalt than a nickel. The shrinking core ash diffusion model represents the leaching kinetics of cobalt, while nickel recovery follows the Kröger-Ziegler kinetics model.