Engineering design of integrated USCM-CFD modelling for hydrocyclone-based simultaneous leaching and separation of manganese slag components

Manganese slag production has become a critical problem due to the increasing demand for manganese ore in lithium-ion battery cathode materials, posing serious resource and environmental concerns. The effective recovery of residual Mn/Fe is frequently limited by conventional separation techniques including flotation, magnetic separation, and gravity separation, which have either low extraction rates or high operating costs. To address this issue, herein, this work proposes a unique hydrocyclone separation-leaching collaboration approach via using the Unreacted Shrinking Core Model (USCM) with Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations for the first time. According to simulated and experimental results, the procedure can achieve an excellent 99.84% separation efficiency of Fe2O3 to the underflow, while also attaining reaction rates of 78.27% for MnO and 15.44% for Fe2O3. This innovation not only validates the feasibility of simultaneous leaching and separation but also expands the application scope of hydrocyclones from traditional separation to reaction kinetics, offering a sustainable and eco-friendly solution for manganese slag recycling.