Head of laboratory:

Kasikov Alexander Georgievich, Ph.D. (Chemistry)

Tel: (81555) 79-653.

E-mail: a.kasikov@ksc.ru

 Number of the staff: 15 (including 8 research associates and 8 candidates of science).

Directions of research:

• research and development of hydrometallurgical technologies for iron, non- ferrous, rare, and noble metal extraction;
• research of chemism and phase equilibria in the heterogenic «solid - nonaqueous organic solvent» systems;
• processes of solvent extraction and purification of metals;
• designing and manufacturing of extraction equipment;
• developing of technologies of metallurgical waste recovery yielding new engineering materials.
• research and development of hydrometallurgical technologies of cobalt and platinum metal raw materials.

The laboratory is involved in active science cooperation with the All-Russia Institute of Aircraft Materials, «GIPRONIKEL» Institute, Institute of General and Inorganic Chemistry RAS (IGIC), and St.Petersburg Technological Institute, of JSC «MMC «Norilsk Nickel», the JSC «Kola GMK», JSC «Krasnoyarsk nonferrous metals plant», JSC «Ufaleynikel», PJSC «Southern Urals Nickel Plant».

New technologies and commercialization:

• extractors of the mixer-settler type for the production of rare, rare earth, and non-ferrous metals, based on the revealed regularities of emulsion separation as ap- plied to solvent extraction. The apparatuses are protected by the patents of the USA, Britain, France, India and other countries;
• solvent-extraction technology for the production of pure iron oxide from etching solutions resulting from metallurgical processes. A license for the technology is purchased by the Andritz- Ruthner, Austria;
• hydrofluoride technology of loparite concentrate;
• hydrofluoride technology of ferric cakes of the copper-nickel process;
• technology of rhenium extraction from spent platinum-rhenium catalysts yielding concentrates and pure rhenium compounds;
• solvent extraction process for washing sulphuric acid resultingin osmium, rhenium and recovered sulphuric acid;
• solvent extraction technology for cut- off electrolytes and fine copper dust;
• leaching of non-ferrous metals from carbonyl nickel residues to produce primary platinum-metal concentrates.
• technology of cobalt extraction under conditions of the existing production of the «Yuzhuralnickel Combine» JSC and its feasibility study;
• technology of copper separation from products of the «Krastsvetmet» JSC by liquid extraction method;
• hydrochloric extraction processing of the Khibinsky titanomagnetite concentrate to produce iron oxide, titanium-silicon and titanium-vanadium concentrates;
• hydrochloride processing of converter copper-nickel slags of metallurgical production;
• hydro and solvometallurgical schemes for processing unconventional hard-enriched titanium-tantalum-niobate mineral raw materials (loparite,perovskite, plumbomicrolite, pyrochlore) deposits of the Kola Peninsula;
• there was developed and implemented the technological scheme of extraction phosphoric acid purification to produce phosphoric acid containing no more impurities than 10-2-10-3 % by weight;
• there was developed and implemented at the «ROSREDMET» JSC a new charge mixture for production of rare earth ligatures on a nickel basis.

Designed and introduced at «Severonikel Combine» JSC:

• technology of copper extraction from the copper-nickel process waste, including the sulphuric acid recovery;
• solvent extraction hydrochloride technology of preparing highly pure cobalt products from cobalt cake and concentrate;
• technology of osmium hydrothermal oxidation and extraction from anion-exchange resin;
• technology of flotation activator preparation from copper process wastes;
• technology of extraction purification of copper electrolyte from zinc;
• technology of sulfuric acid extraction from the mother liquor, which is formed in obtaining a copper-nickel sulfate;
• the initial data for operating regulations on the technology of extraction cleaning of nickel solutions from zinc, which is introduced at the new nickel production plant yielding 120 thousand tons of nickel;
• novel solvent extraction technology for cobalt purification, which makes it possible to obtain high-purity solutions of cobalt chloride and highly pure metal, the use of which in refractory alloys instead of ordinary metal provided an increase in the resistance of articles to destruction by 1,2-1,3 times.

At the disposal of the Laboratory is a set of extraction equipment including a plant for flow hydrodynamic studies, various- capacity solvent-extraction multistep pilot plants for counter-flow testing in continuous regime, plants for carrying out experiments on leaching, electrochemical purification of solutions from impurities and precipitation of pure metals.

Leading researchers:

• Petrova А.М.,Ph.D. (Engineering)
  
• Kumaneva E. S., Ph.D. (Engineering),
• Areshina N.S.,Ph.D.(Engineering)
• Schelokova E. A., Ph.D. (Engineering),
• Dyakova L. V., Ph.D. (Engineering).