LAUSR

Abstract In the leaching process of chromite, how to quickly separate sodium chromate from leaching slurry is a key issue. In this paper, a simple method, named thermal sedimentation, was firstly introduced into the solid–liquid separation of sodium chromate. The results shown that the thermal sedimentation can respectively shorten the separation time (h) by 71.9% and 53.9% when compared to dilution filtration and centrifugation separation. In terms of processing unit volume of leaching slurry, the power consumption of thermal sedimentation was 6.48 × 103 J, which was the lowest in the investigated separation methods. Meanwhile, the alkali solution after the separation of thermal sedimentation can be directly reused. When sedimentation temperature was 150 °C, sedimentation efficiency was higher. In addition, the relationship between slurry viscosity and sedimentation velocity was consistent with Coe-Clevenger method and Stokes formula. The thermal sedimentation can be regarded as an effective solid–liquid separation method for liquid phase oxidative leaching system of chromite.