CHARACTERIZATION
INDONESIA
OF
NICKEL
LATERITE
REDUCTION
FROM
POMAALA,
Ahmad Rizky Rhamdani1, Moh. Fahrurrozi1 and Himawan T.B.M. Petrus1*
1
Material and Mineral Processing Research Group, Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of
Engineering, Gadjah Mada University, Jl. Grafika 2 Yogyakarta, 55281, Indonesia
*corresponding authors: bayu.petrus@ugm.ac.id
ABSTRACT
The effect of using different reductor in the reduction process of nickel laterite was investigated. In this
work, the author conducted the reduction of nickel laterite ores by anthracite coal, lamtoro charcoal, and
carbon raiser, in air and CO2 atmosphere, within the temperature ranged from 800oC to 1000oC. The results
indicate that at higher temperatures, the reduction reactions proceed more complete. According on the Xray powder diffraction (XRD) study, the type of carbon used greatly influence the rate of the reduction of
nickel laterite. The order of reactivity is anthracite coal, lamtoro charcoal, and carbon raiser, respectively.
The reduction atmosphere also greatly influences the reduction process. The reduction process in CO 2
atmosphere gives a lot of significant decrease in hematite and magnetite presence, means that the reduction
reactions proceed more complete compared to the reduction process in the air atmosphere.
Keywords: laterite ore, reduction, bioreductor.