Reuse of Anode Slime Generated by the Zinc Industry to Obtain a Liquor for Manufacturing Electrolytic Manganese

A hydrometallurgical process is proposed in this article to recover manganese from a zinc electrowinning residue. The article describes the digestion-leaching experiments, precipitation, and electrowinning assays to recover Mn from this residue. Anode slime is treated with sulfuric acidic in a furnace within a temperature range of 400–450°C, leached with water, and then filtered. The results show that the dissolution of manganese increases with increasing temperature in the digestion step. The recovery yield of manganese was higher than 90%. As manganese electrolysis requires an electrolyte free of Zn, Ni, Co, and Cu pollutants, the sulfuric acid liquor needs a purification step. Na2S is used to remove pollutants. The results obtained in this study have shown that the proposed process for the recovery of manganese from this type of residue is technically viable.