Selective recovery of nickel and cobalt or copper and zinc from solution

DETAILED DESCRIPTION What we claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States is: 1.
A process for separately recovering nickel and cobalt from a feed solution containing dissolved nickel and cobaltous cobalt, including adjusting the pH of the solution if necessary to a value between about 3 and about 6, and then contacting the solution with a chelating ion exchange resin having aminocarboxylic acid functional groups to selectively load nickel onto the resin to produce a nickel loaded resin and a nickel depleted cobalt containing solution.
2.
A process according to claim 1 wherein the pH of the solution is adjusted if necessary to a value between about 4 and about 5.
3.
A process according to claim 1 wherein a metal loading cycle is carried out by passing the adjusted solution sequentially through a plurality of nickel loading columns of said ion exchange resin, the first column contacted by the solution being a partially loaded column and the last column contacted being a freshly regenerated column, the solution being passed through the columns until the first contacted column is substantially fully loaded.
4.
A process according to claim 3 wherein, after the first contacted column is substantially fully loaded, solution leaving said column is recycled therethrough to displace cobalt from said column and increase the nickel loading thereon.
5.
A process according to claim 1 wherein the feed solution is an ammonium sulphate solution.
6.
A process according to claim 1 wherein the feed solution is an ammonium sulphate solution and the nickel is subsequently stripped from the nickel loaded resin by means of sulphuric acid.
7.
A process according to claim 1 wherein the feed solution contains between about 0.
5 and 3.
0 gpl dissolved nickel and between about 0.
2 and 3.
0 gpl dissolved cobaltous cobalt.
8.
A process according to claim 1 wherein the pH of the nickel depleted cobalt containing solution is adjusted to a value between about 7 and about 10 and is then contacted with further said ion exchange resin to produce a cobaltous cobalt loaded resin