Regular Article

Recovery of manganese from manganese oxide ores in the EDTA solution

¹ College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha 410083, Hunan, PR China
² Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Efficient and Clean Utilization of Manganese Resources, Central South University, Changsha 410083, Hunan, PR China

^* email: zfcao1980@163.com, zhongh@csu.edu.cn

Received: 9 November 2017
Accepted: 2 January 2018

Abstract

A new process has been experimentally and theoretically established for the recovery of manganese from manganese oxide ores, mainly including the reductive leaching of manganese by ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA), EDTA recovery, and manganese electrolysis. The experimental conditions for this process were investigated. Moderate leaching environment by EDTA with the pH in the range of 5–6 is of benefit to leach manganese from some manganese oxide ores with high-content impurities, such as iron and aluminum. Most of EDTA can be recovered by acidification. A small amount of the residual EDTA in the electrolyte can prevent the generation of anode mud. In addition, trimanganese tetroxide (Mn₃O₄) can be obtained by the roasting of the EDTA–Mn crystallized product.