Author(s)

Bieby Voijant Tangahu¹, IDAA Warmadewanthi¹, Dian Saptarini², Lily Pudjiastuti³, Mas Agus Mardyanto Tardan¹, Arif Luqman¹

¹Department of Environmental Engineering, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya, Indonesia.
²Department of Biology, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya, Indonesia.
³Department of Chemical Engineering, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Surabaya, Indonesia.

This study aimed to assess the differences of characteristics between the new ferronickel slag generated from the production of nickel and the slag which had been used as a material reclamation. The Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP) test was conducted on ferronickel slag to determine the concentration of heavy metals leaching. Then, the tests of X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscopic (SEM) and Energy-Dispersive X-Ray Spectroscopy (EDX) are also conducted on the ferronickel slag samples. The results of TCLP test show that the new ferronickel slag samples contain Fe (158, 6775 ppm), Cr (0.64465 ppm), and Pb (0.0219 ppm), and that the ferronickel slag has been used as a reclamation material containing Fe (3.94 ppm) and Cr (2.91 ppm). The result of EDX test shows that the slag sample from the reclamation area contains higher Ni concentration than the new slag sample. Slag that has been used for reclamation contains high SiO₂ and Mg₂(SiO₆). The XRD analysis result shows that the highest elements in the slag are Si and Mg with 18.94% and 15.83% respectively. The dominant mineral in the slag is forsterite (Mg 1.784 FeSiO₄ 0216) by 41% and the rest is magnesium silicate (Mg2(SiO6)).

EDX, SEM, Ferronickel Slag, XRD

Tangahu, B. , Warmadewanthi, I. , Saptarini, D. , Pudjiastuti, L. , Tardan, M. and Luqman, A. (2015) Ferronickel Slag Performance from Reclamation Area in Pomalaa, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. Advances in Chemical Engineering and Science, 5, 408-412. doi: 10.4236/aces.2015.53041.