Separation of cobalt from slag of nickel pig iron using solvent extraction method

Indonesia has abundant mineral resources that have the most significant potential. Seeing this phenomenon, many people try to utilize mineral resources both in nature and use the industrial wastes. One of them is slag from the manufacture of nickel pig iron. Slag is categorized as hazardous and toxic waste. However, slag of nickel pig iron still contains multicomponent minerals (Fe, Mn, Co, Pb, Cu), which is high value, one of them is cobalt. To separate cobalt from other components and obtain cobalt with high purity, it can be done by the solvent extraction method from the sulfuric acid leaching solution. In this study, the Taguchi experiment design was analyzed using larger the better of signal to noise ratio. The cobalt extraction process’s optimum condition using 15% v/v of cyanex 272 and versatic from slag of nickel pig iron is at 6 of pH, 10 minutes of extraction time, 2/3 of ratio O/A, and 10% v/v of versatic acid.