Enhanced removal of iron from iron-rich manganese ore leaching solution: A promising strategy by seed-induced

Enhanced removal of iron from iron-rich manganese ore leaching solution has become a bottleneck limiting the development of the electrolytic manganese industry. Herein, iron-rich electrolytic manganese residue (IREMR) as a seeding to enhance iron removal. The results showed that the iron removal efficiency was 99.97 % with only manganese loss of 1.5 % whenadding 1 g/L IREMR. Compared with the traditional conditions of electrolytic metal manganese enterprise, it demonstrated several environmental advantages: lower manganese loss (from 16 % to 1.5 %), less IREMR produced (64.45 %), faster filtration speed (from 0.0013 to 0.1966 mL/s.cm2). Based on multiphase equilibria modelling and strengthening mechanism analysis, enhanced iron removal by seed-induced can reduce the formation of ammonium-alum complex salts and prevent the formation of Fe(OH)3 colloid. In addition, IREMR as seeding applied in the iron removal process can accelerate the formation of goethite and hematite to shorten the nucleation cycle. This strategy is important for source reduction and resource utilization of electrolytic manganese residue.