Cobalt Presentation
Cobalt Presentation
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Cobalt
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● Silver-colored cobalt metal is brittle, has a high melting point and is valued for
its wear resistance and ability to retain its strength at high temperatures.
● It is one of the three naturally occurring magnetic metals (iron and nickel being
the other two) and retains its magnetism at a higher temperature (2012°F,
1100°C) than any other metal. In other words, cobalt has the highest Curie
Point of all metals. Cobalt also has valuable catalytic properties
History
● The word cobalt dates back to the sixteenth-century German term kobold,
meaning goblin, or evil spirit. Kobold was used to describe cobalt ores that,
while being smelted for their silver content, gave off poisonous arsenic trioxide.
● The earliest application of cobalt was in compounds used for blue dyes for
pottery, glass, and glazes. Egyptian and Babylonian pottery dyed with cobalt
compounds can be dated back to 1450 B.C.
History
● In 1735, Swedish chemist Georg Brandt was the first to isolate the element
from copper ore. He demonstrated that the blue pigment arose from cobalt,
not arsenic or bismuth as alchemists originally believed. After its isolation,
cobalt metal remained rare and seldom used until the 20th century.
● The main ores of cobalt are cobaltite, erythrite, glaucodot, and skutterudite.
● The extraction technique used to produce refined cobalt metal depends on whether
the feed material is in the form of (1) copper-cobalt sulfide ore, (2) cobalt-nickel
sulfide concentrate, (3) arsenide ore or (4) nickel-laterite ore
Copper-Cobalt Sulfur Ore
After copper cathodes are produced from cobalt-containing copper sulfides,
cobalt, along with other impurities, are left on the spent electrolyte. Impurities
(iron, nickel, copper, zinc) are removed and cobalt is precipitated in its hydroxide
form using lime. Cobalt metal can then be refined from this using electrolysis,
before being crushed and degassed to produce a pure, commercial grade metal.
-Carollite Cu(Co,Ni)2S4
Cobalt-Nickel Sulfide Concentrate
Cobalt-containing nickel sulfide ores are treated using the Sherritt process,
named after Sherrit Gordon Mines Ltd. (now Sherritt International). In this
process, sulfide concentrate containing less than 1% cobalt is pressure leached
at high temperatures in an ammonia solution. Both copper and nickel are both
removed in series of chemical reduction processes, leaving only nickel and cobalt
sulfides. Pressure leaching with air, sulfuric acid, and ammonia recovers more
nickel before cobalt powder is added as a seed to precipitate cobalt in a hydrogen
gas atmosphere.
Arsenide ores
Arsenide ores are roasted to remove the majority of arsenic oxide. The ores are
then treated with hydrochloric acid and chlorine, or with sulfuric acid, to create a
leach solution that is purified. From this cobalt is recovered by electrorefining or
carbonate precipitation.
-Cobalite CoAsS
Nickel-cobalt laterite ore
Nickel-cobalt laterite ores can either be melted and separated using
pyrometallurgical techniques or hydrometallurgical techniques, which use sulfuric
acid or ammonia leach solutions.
Chemical / Battery
Despite the many uses for cobalt metal, cobalt's primary applications are in the
chemical sector, which accounts for about half of the total global demand. Cobalt
chemicals are used in the metallic cathodes of rechargeable batteries, as well as in
petrochemical catalysts, ceramic pigments, and glass decolorizers.