Preparation of Boron Removal from Battery Grade Nickel Salts

Nickel salts mainly include nickel sulfate, nickel nitrate, etc. Nickel sulfate is divided into electroplating grade and battery grade nickel sulfate according to purity. Battery grade nickel sulfate is used in the production of new energy vehicle battery materials.

The production of nickel sulfate generally includes the following types:

1. Preparation of nickel sulfate from metallic nickel: Dissolve metallic nickel in sulfuric acid, crystallize to obtain crude nickel sulfate crystals, dissolve the crystals, remove impurities, and concentrate to obtain battery grade nickel sulfate crystals.

2. The impurity nickel contained in copper electrolysis dissolves into nickel sulfate in the anode, and after impurity removal and concentration, battery grade nickel sulfate crystals are obtained.

3. Nickel intermediates such as nickel oxide, nickel hydroxide, and nickel carbonate are dissolved in sulfuric acid.

4. Nickel containing solution in cobalt production.

5. Prepared from nickel containing waste materials.

The existing method for preparing nickel salts is to use nickel powder or nickel powder compacted into blocks as raw materials, add sulfuric acid for reaction dissolution to obtain nickel sulfate. When the acidity is 0.5-1.5N, a neutralizing agent needs to be added to adjust the pH of the reaction solution. In actual production, high boron nickel carbonate is used. The neutralization reaction between nickel carbonate and acid can quickly consume the acid and generate nickel salts, which can shorten the reaction time.

Because the selected nickel carbonate is a low-cost high boron nickel carbonate, after adjusting the pH value of the reaction solution, it is necessary to pass the reaction solution through a boron removal resin. The battery grade nickel salt obtained by preparing the reaction solution through the boron removal resin has a low impurity content. Moreover, compared to the method of increasing the reaction rate by adding hydrogen peroxide, this process does not require the use of auxiliary materials such as hydrogen peroxide, reducing costs, and also avoiding the impact of impurities such as P in industrial hydrogen peroxide that are difficult to remove on product quality.

HPB119 is a polymer with a macroporous polystyrene skeleton modified with a selective coordination function for boron ions. The coordination group can form a very stable complex with boron, while being inert to other anions, which helps to selectively remove boron ions from water.