A comparison among bio-derived acids as selective eco-friendly leaching agents for cobalt: the case study of hard-metal waste enhancement

Abstract

Peculiar chemical, mechanical, and magnetic properties make cobalt a key metal for a variety of “hot” applications like the cathode production of Li-ion batteries. Cobalt is also the preferred metallic binder for tungsten carbide tool manufacturing. The recent increasing criticality of cobalt and tungsten is driving the interest of manufacturers and researchers toward high-rate recycling of hard-metal (HM) waste for limiting the demand for raw materials. A simple and environmentally friendly hydrometallurgical route for Co-selective dissolution from HM wastes was developed by using weak, bio-derived, and biodegradable organic acids (OAs). In this study, OAs, namely, acetic (HAc), citric (H3Cit), maleic (H2Mal), lactic (HLac), succinic (H2Suc), lactobionic (HLB), and itaconic (H2It) acids, were selected for their pKa1 values spanning from 1.8 to 4.7 and systematically tested as selective cobalt leaching agents from WC-Co-based wastes in water, isolating the formed complexes in the solid state. Thereby, all of them seemed to be efficient in selective Co leaching, achieving almost quantitative Co dissolution from HM by-products still at low concentration levels and room conditions in a short time, leaving the residual WC unreacted and ready to be re-employed for industrial purposes. Nevertheless, two main categories of organic acids were distinguished depending on their oxidizing/complexing behavior: class 1 OAs, where the metal oxidation is carried out by H+, and class 2 OAs, where oxidation is carried out by an external oxidant like O2. A combined experimental/theoretical investigation is described here to show the reasons behind this peculiar behavior and lay the foundation for a wider discussion on the leaching capabilities of OAs toward elemental metals. Due to the demonstrated effectiveness, low cost, eco-friendliness, and large availability through biotechnological fermentative processes, particular attention is devoted here to the use of HLac in hydrometallurgy as an example of class 2 OA. WC-Co materials recovered by HLac mild hydrometallurgy demonstrated a metallurgical quality suitable for re-employment in the HM manufacturing process.

Progress in Sustainable Recycling and Circular Economy of Tungsten Carbide Hard Metal Scraps for Industry 5.0 and Onwards

“…Additionally, their solubility in water (as well as in other green solvents, such as ethanol) is a bonus. The most widely reported organic acids used in leaching treatment of WC hard and soft scraps are acetic acid [57,95], succinic acid [114], lactic acid [114], itaconic acid [114], lactobionic and maltobionic acids, formic acid [113,114], malic acid [113,115], citric acid [104,112,114], tartaric acid [113], and maleic acid [114,116].…”

In-Depth Understanding of Hardmetal Corrosion Performance Reveals a Path to the Electrochemical Demolition of Scrap

“…Circular use of these elements, as well as of additives, is thus mandatory and raw materials recovery in the HM field is common practice. HM recovery can be carried out in different ways [7] and gathered under direct recycling [8][9][10][11][12][13][14], indirect chemical recycling [15][16][17][18][19] and melting metallurgy [20]. All recovery routes included in these groups, attempted or implemented, exhibit different drawbacks.…”

“…Through the dissolution of the metal, the integrity of the carbide structure is lowered and easily disintegrated [7]. Moreover, environmentally benign leaching agents are being investigated [18,19].…”