Recovery of Nickel Metal from the Spent FeCl $_3$ Etching Solution by Solvent Extraction and Chemical Reduction

Solvent extraction and chemical reduction experiments have been performed to separate iron and nickel from a spent FeCl etching solution and to recover nickel metal. It was possible to separate iron and nickel by extracting the spent solution with Alamine336. At the O/A ratio of 7:1, iron extraction percentage of 99% was obtained. In the stripping of the loaded organic with 0.01 M HCl solution, iron stripping percentage of 99% was obtained when the A/O ratio was 7:1. When the pH of the raffinate was controlled to be 10.5, nickel metal powder with 99% purity was obtained by using hydrazine as a reducing agent at 100. A process was suggested to recover nickel metal from the spent FeCl solution and to regenerate etching solution.