Hydrogen Reduction of a Black Nickel Oxide Ore in a Fluidized-Bed Reactor without Sticking

A black nickel oxide powder, one of the commercial nickel oxide ores, was reduced by hydrogen gas in a batch-type fluidized-bed reactor in a temperature range of 350 to $500^{\circ}C$ and in a residence time range of 5 to 120 min. The hydrogen reduction behavior of the black nickel oxide was found to be somewhat different from that of green nickel oxide ore. For the black nickel oxide, the maximum temperature (below which nickel oxide particles can be reduced without any agglomeration) was significantly lower than that observed for the green nickel oxide. In addition, the best curve fittings of the Avrami model were obtained at higher values of the overall rate constant "k" and at lower values of the exponent "m", compared to those values for the green nickel oxide. It may be inferred from these results that the hydrogen reduction rate of the black nickel oxide is faster than that of the green nickel oxide in the early stages, but the situation reverses in the later stages. For the black nickel oxide ore, in spite of the low temperature sintering, it was possible to achieve a high degree fluidized-bed reduction at lower temperatures and at lower gas consumption rates than was possible for the green nickel oxide. In this regard, the use of black nickel oxide is expected to yield a benefit if its ore price is sufficiently lower than that of the green nickel oxide.