Transformation pathways and zinc binding mechanisms in magnetite crystallization: Implications for zinc hydrometallurgy

Abstract

Iron removal from zinc leachate in hydrometallurgy produces large volumes of low-grade, impurity-laden iron waste, posing significant environmental challenges. Magnetite precipitation offers a novel method for iron removal and resource recycling in zinc hydrometallurgy. However, the chemical similarity between ferrous and zinc ions, along with high zinc concentrations, causes zinc co-precipitation, challenging its application. To address this issue, this study utilized electron microscopy to observe key intermediate products in magnetite crystallization and employed EXAFS (extended X-ray absorption fine structure) to analyze their evolutionary mechanisms and zinc-binding configurations. The results indicate that the intermediate products during magnetite formation are sequentially green rust, feroxyhyte (δ-FeOOH), and weakly crystalline nanoparticles, and further analysis revealed that their transformation follows the dissolution-recrystallization mechanism. Furthermore, it was found that intermediate products such as green rust exhibit strong binding with zinc (via adsorption and lattice substitution), which was confirmed as a significant reason for the difficulty in separating zinc from magnetite. This study elucidates the transformation process of intermediate products during magnetite formation and, for the first time, reveals the binding configurations of zinc with these key intermediate products. This has significant implications for the development and optimization of new technologies for the efficient separation of iron and zinc during the magnetite precipitation process.

Keywords

magnetite precipitation / zinc leachate / intermediate products / dissolution-recrystallization / binding configurations

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