225results about "Nickel sulfates" patented technology

A treatment process for crystallizing a metal sulfate involving pre-treating a feedstock comprising calcium, magnesium, and / or lithium impurities, the pre-treating involving pre-leaching the feedstock in the presence of a lixiviant, selectively extracting a first portion of any of the impurities from the feedstock, and forming a leached solution comprising an uncrystallized metal sulfate and any remaining impurities; and / or refining the leached solution and removing a second portion of any of the remaining impurities; and crystallizing the uncrystallized metal sulfate from the leached solution to form a crystallized metal sulfate. So processed, the crystallized metal sulfate may be battery-grade or electroplating-grade.

The invention belongs to the technical field of waste battery recovery and regeneration, and particularly relates to a method for recovering valuable metal from a waste lithium battery positive electrode material. The method comprises the following steps: carrying out sulfuration roasting on waste positive electrode powder, selectively extracting lithium in a water leaching manner, and precipitating lithium to obtain lithium carbonate; separating and purifying the nickel, the cobalt and the manganese through microwave acid leaching, precipitation impurity removal and step-by-step extraction to obtain extract liquor of the nickel, the cobalt and the manganese, and performing reverse extraction on the extract liquor to obtain battery-grade cobalt sulfate, battery-grade nickel sulfate and battery-grade manganese sulfate. According to the method, lithium is extracted firstly, the influence of the lithium element on subsequent nickel-cobalt-manganese extraction is reduced, meanwhile, the recovery rate of lithium is increased through the water leaching method, and the recovery cost is reduced. According to the method, precipitation and impurity removal are performed before nickel-cobalt-manganese extraction, so that the content of impurities in a sulfate solution is reduced, and the recovery rate of nickel, cobalt and manganese is greatly improved.

The invention discloses a method for preparing battery-grade nickel sulfate through collaborative purification of crude nickel sulfate and crude nickel carbonate. According to the method, crude nickel sulfate is dissolved firstly, then crude nickel carbonate is utilized for batch synergistic neutralization, and the alkalinity of the nickel carbonate is effectively utilized to reduce extra acid and alkali consumption. And then through multi-stage fine purification, including Fe oxidation and preliminary precipitation, Cr (VI) reduction and high-pH precipitation, main impurities such as iron, chromium, aluminum and the like are efficiently removed. And after the mother liquor is adsorbed by activated carbon and trace impurities are removed by strong-acid cation exchange resin, vacuum evaporation and concentration are carried out, and seed crystals are introduced for cooling crystallization, so that pure NiSO4. 6H2O crystals are obtained. The whole technological process pays attention to resource recycling, washing water recycling and nickel recycling of nickel-containing filter residues, waste gas and waste liquid are treated, and clean production is achieved. The nickel sulfate product prepared by the method is high in purity, meets the battery grade standard, and has good economic benefits and environmental benefits.

The invention discloses a recycling method of NF3 residual electrolysis liquid, and relates to the technical field of residual electrolysis liquid recycling treatment. The method comprises the following steps: step 1, removing Fe ions in the electrolytic residual liquid: firstly, adding hydrogen peroxide or oxygen into the electrolytic residual liquid for reaction, oxidizing ferrous ions into ferric ions, then adding ammonia water and sodium hydroxide or ammonium bicarbonate and sodium hydroxide into the solution for reaction, precipitating ferric ions in the form of ferric hydroxide; 2, hydrofluoric acid is added into the electrolyte solution obtained after iron removal to adjust the pH of filtrate to 3-12, the filtrate enters an extraction system, the nickel element in ammonium hydrogen fluoride is extracted out, and ammonium hydrogen fluoride is purified; and step 3, the nickel element separated from the electrolyte enters a second section to be extracted and synthesized into a nickel sulfate product.

The invention belongs to the technical field of waste battery recovery, and particularly relates to a short-process method for recovering battery-grade lithium carbonate and valuable metals from waste ternary lithium battery black powder. According to the method, a lithium closed-loop technical system of blank roasting, cyclic leaching, synergistic impurity removal, lithium phosphate aluminum removal, directional extraction and split-flow extraction of lithium, nickel and magnesium and seed crystal induction parallel flow lithium precipitation is constructed, a roasting aid, a reducing agent and an aluminum removal agent do not need to be added in the whole process, and the redundant processes of traditional lithium carbonate purification such as carbonization, resin purification and pyrolysis are omitted; the lithium liquid concentration cost is saved, no hazardous waste exists, green and clean production is achieved, and the quality of battery-grade products is guaranteed through collaborative impurity removal and directional extraction.

The present invention provides a process for preparing a high-purity nickel sulphate solution, comprising the steps of: i. forming an aqueous mixed metal sulphate solution by reacting sulphuric acid with a raw material feed comprising nickel, manganese, cobalt, and magnesium in an aqueous medium; ii. extracting manganese from said aqueous mixed metal sulphate solution, thereby obtaining a first aqueous raffinate comprising nickel, cobalt and magnesium, and a manganese-rich organic phase; iii. extracting cobalt from said first aqueous raffinate, thereby obtaining a second aqueous raffinate comprising nickel and magnesium, and a cobalt-rich organic phase; and iv. extracting magnesium from said second aqueous raffinate solution, thereby obtaining a high-purity nickel sulphate solution, and a magnesium-rich organic phase.

The application discloses a method for recovering nickel and phosphorus from electroless nickel plating waste liquid, and the method comprises the following steps: preparing nickel sulfate through extraction and stripping, and preparing iron phosphate through Fenton oxidation and precipitation; compared with the prior art, the method is characterized in that the waste liquid is pretreated, insoluble solid particles in the waste liquid are removed, emulsification of an extractant caused by particles in a subsequent extraction process is prevented, damage to extraction oil is avoided, and the extraction efficiency is ensured; in addition, the extractant used in the method can be recycled, secondary pollution is avoided, and the method is economical and practical; in the method, main pollutants in waste water are all converted into important chemical raw materials, recycling is realized, sulfuric acid and Fenton reagents used are all converted into terminal products, difficulty of end waste water treatment is not increased, clean production is met, the treatment cost is low, the product has high added value, and the method has strong practicability.

The invention discloses a method for removing aluminum, calcium and magnesium and recovering nickel from waste hydrogenation catalyst pickle liquor through complete extraction, and belongs to the technical field of hydrometallurgy. A method for removing aluminum, calcium and magnesium and recovering nickel from waste hydrogenation catalyst pickle liquor through complete extraction comprises the following steps that S1, the waste hydrogenation catalyst pickle liquor containing nickel, aluminum, calcium and magnesium is taken, the pH of the pickle liquor is adjusted, first-stage multi-stage counter-current extraction is conducted through a composite organic extraction phase, and an aluminum-loaded organic phase and aluminum-removed raffinate are obtained; s2, adjusting the pH value of the aluminum removal raffinate, and carrying out second-stage multi-stage counter-current extraction by adopting a composite organic extraction phase to obtain a calcium and magnesium loaded organic phase and a purified nickel sulfate solution; s3, the purified nickel sulfate solution is subjected to evaporative crystallization, and a nickel sulfate product is obtained; wherein the composite organic extraction phase comprises a main extraction agent, a synergistic extraction agent A and a synergistic extraction agent B; the method has the advantages of being high in nickel recovery rate, thorough in impurity removal, short in technological process, free of slag dust pollution and the like.

Provided is a method capable of selectively leaching Ni from an oxidized ore containing Ni and Si. The method of leaching nickel from an oxidized ore according to the present disclosure includes the steps of: preparing a liquid leaching agent containing a hydrogen bond acceptor that has made contact with hydrochloric acid, and a hydrophobic organic compound (provided that unsubstituted alicyclic hydrocarbon compounds and unsubstituted aromatic hydrocarbon compounds are excluded); and contacting an oxidized ore containing nickel and silicon with the leaching agent.

The invention provides a silicon removal agent as well as a preparation method and application thereof, and the silicon removal agent is prepared from the following raw materials: zirconium sulfate, a sulfur-containing organic chelating agent and polyhydroxy carboxylic acid. The silicon removal agent provided by the invention solves the problems of low silicon removal efficiency, great influence by the fluctuation of the silicon content of the previous liquid and difficulty in stable deep silicon removal of the silicon content of the liquid after silicon removal in the existing nickel sulfate silicon removal process.

It is provided a process for extracting nickel sulfate from mining ores, such as serpentine, comprising the steps of conducting a magnetic separation of the mining ores producing a magnetic fraction and a non magnetic fraction; leaching the non magnetic fraction with HCI producing a slurry comprising metals chloride; filtrating the slurry producing a metals chloride liquor; purifying the metals chloride liquor producing a magnesium chloride solution; separating an iron-nickel cake from the magnesium chloride solution; leaching the cake together with the magnetic fraction producing a metallic sulfate solution; extracting nickel and cobalt from the metallic sulfate solution by a ion exchange resin extraction and stripping producing an inorganic stripped phase; submitting the inorganic stripped phase to a liquid-liquid extraction producing a nickel concentrated phase; and evaporating and drying the nickel concentrated phase to recuperate nickel sulfate.

This invention provides a method for recovering valuable elements from battery powder through leaching. The method includes: mixing sulfur powder, concentrated sulfuric acid, and battery powder, and carrying out a aging reaction to obtain an aged material; leaching the aged material to obtain a leachate; mixing the leachate with the pretreated material for a first conditioning treatment, followed by solid-liquid separation to obtain a first liquid phase; subjecting the first liquid phase to impurity removal and solid-liquid separation, and then performing stepwise extraction and back-extraction on the resulting second liquid phase to recover valuable elements such as nickel, cobalt, manganese, lithium, and zinc. This invention can shorten the overall extraction process, reduce the consumption of auxiliary materials such as acids and liquid alkalis at the downstream end, and lower production costs.

Method for producing electronic grade nickel sulfate from nickel powder, crystallization apparatus, and control thereof The present invention provides a method for producing nickel sulfate, and nickel sulfate produced thereby. The process includes acid leaching, copper removal, acid adjustment, concentration, cooling crystallization, drying and sieving, and secondary leaching. Oxidation In the calcination furnace, the temperature is 400 to 700°C, and 1 kg of compressed air is used for each kilogram of nickel powder. ~5m 3 The reaction time is 1.0 to 2.5 hours, and the temperature during acid immersion is controlled to 45 to 70°C. Then, add dilute sulfuric acid to control the pH to 0.5-1.5 and react for 1-3 hours. The copper removal is to replace the copper with nickel powder, and the acid conditioning is to use nickel hydroxide or The pH is adjusted to 2.5-4.5 using nickel carbonate, and the filtrate is concentrated by The cooling crystallization method is to obtain nickel sulfate crystals and return the mother liquor to the concentrate. Drying and sieving is to add the undersieved material to the crystallizer as seed crystals, and secondary leaching is to Dilute sulfuric acid is added to the leaching slag, and it is reacted with nickel sulfate or hydrogen peroxide until nickel is less than 0.1%. If the first stage is full, the second leaching is continued. The crystallizer is a crystallizer that is connected in series with a second-stage crystallizer and a third-stage crystallizer. A crystallization frame, an oscillator provided under the crystallization frame, and an oscillator provided at the exit end of the crystallization frame. The crystallization frame is a rectangular parallelepiped. The bottom of the ribs are evenly spaced, with a cross section of a circular arc. The distance between two adjacent ribs is S is 1 / 25 to 1 / 15 of the width of the crystallization frame, and either the width b or the height h of the rib The width of the crystallization frame is 1 / 100 to 1 / 150 of the width of the crystallization frame. It does not add any new impurity ions, and does not add any oxidizing agent. The nickel sulfate crystal particles produced are uniform and are free of the static generation. This avoids caking of very large particles, irregularly shaped particles and crystals.

The utility model discloses nickel sulfate crystallization equipment convenient to precool, and relates to the technical field of nickel sulfate production. The nickel sulfate crystallization equipment convenient to precool comprises a precooling containing box and a nickel sulfate solution precooling device, the nickel sulfate solution precooling device comprises a water inlet pipe, a solution inlet pipe, a heat absorption layer, a condensing coil, a heat absorption plate, a water outlet pipe and a solution containing cavity, and the water inlet pipe is fixedly connected to the top of the precooling containing box; the solution inlet pipe is fixedly connected to the top of the pre-cooling containing box body, the heat absorption layer is fixedly connected to the interior of the pre-cooling containing box body, the condensing coil pipe is fixedly connected to the interior of the pre-cooling containing box body, and the top of the condensing coil pipe is communicated with the water inlet pipe. And the nickel sulfate solution pre-cooling device can make full contact with the condensing coil and the heat absorption plate through the arrangement of the stirring blades, and the cooling speed is increased.

A treatment process for crystallizing a metal sulfate involving pre-treating a feedstock comprising calcium, magnesium, and / or lithium impurities, the pre-treating involving pre-leaching the feedstock in the presence of a lixiviant, selectively extracting a first portion of any of the impurities from the feedstock, and forming a leached solution comprising an uncrystallized metal sulfate and any remaining impurities; and / or refining the leached solution and removing a second portion of any of the remaining impurities; and crystallizing the uncrystallized metal sulfate from the leached solution to form a crystallized metal sulfate. So processed, the crystallized metal sulfate may be battery-grade or electroplating-grade.

The invention provides a method for preparing nickel sulfate by using MHP to callback and remove impurities, which comprises the following steps: S1, slurrying: adding water into MHP, stirring and slurrying to obtain cobalt nickel hydroxide slurry; s2, acid leaching: adding sulfuric acid into the cobalt nickel hydroxide slurry to adjust the pH value to 1.0-1.5, and carrying out acid leaching to obtain a pre-callback solution; s3, first-stage callback: preparing a first MHP slurry, adding the first MHP slurry into the pre-callback liquid, callback the pH to 3.0-3.5, and carrying out a stirring reaction to obtain a first-stage callback slurry; s4, second-stage callback: preparing second MHP slurry, adding the second MHP slurry into the first-stage callback slurry, callback the pH to 5.0-5.2, and stirring for reaction to obtain second-stage callback slurry; and S5, carrying out solid-liquid separation on the second-stage callback slurry to obtain a nickel sulfate solution and solid residues. According to the method, the MHP callback impurity removal is adopted, an original lime milk callback process is replaced, the concentration of nickel sulfate is increased, and the calcium bonding risk of a conveying pipeline is reduced.

The invention relates to a method for separating nickel sulfate from nickel, lithium and sodium ternary sulfate. The method comprises the following steps: (1) carrying out evaporative crystallization on a nickel-lithium-sodium ternary sulfate solution, carrying out heat preservation and sedimentation, and then carrying out solid-liquid separation to obtain a first mother solution and a first crystal; (2) carrying out cooling crystallization on the first mother liquor, and carrying out solid-liquid separation to obtain a second crystal; (3) carrying out first washing treatment on the second crystal, and carrying out solid-liquid separation to obtain a third crystal; (4) heating and dissolving the third crystal, cooling, recrystallizing, and carrying out solid-liquid separation to obtain a fourth crystal; and (5) carrying out second washing treatment on the fourth crystal, carrying out solid-liquid separation, and drying an obtained fifth crystal to obtain the nickel sulfate product. According to the method, the nickel sulfate crystal can be directly separated from the high-concentration nickel-lithium-sodium sulfate, the process is simple, other impurities are not introduced, the purity of the target product is high, and industrial implementation is easy.

To provide a method for oxidative leaching of Ni.SOLUTION: The present invention provides a process for preparing a nickel sulphate solution in a column reactor, wherein metal particles containing nickel are reacted with an oxidising leaching solution comprising sulphuric acid and hydrogen peroxide in water, wherein the acid in the oxidising leaching solution is substantially depleted.SELECTED DRAWING: None

This invention discloses a method for preparing battery-grade nickel sulfate and iron phosphate using nickel pig iron and ferric phosphate slag as raw materials. The preparation process involves first mixing the ferric phosphate slag with cationic alkyl polyacrylamide to form a uniform mixture. This mixture is then added to dilute acid and stirred to disperse it. Nickel pig iron powder is added, and the mixture is filtered to obtain a leaching solution. The leaching solution is then subjected to nickel-iron separation using resin to obtain an iron-containing solution and a nickel-containing resin. The nickel-containing resin is desorbed to obtain a desorbed solution. A nickel-based pH adjuster is added to this desorbed solution, and the solution is filtered to obtain a nickel sulfate solution. After evaporation and concentration to precipitate crystals, the solution is dried and crushed to obtain battery-grade nickel sulfate. Hydrogen peroxide is added to the iron-containing solution to oxidize ferrous iron to ferric iron. A phosphorus source is added, the pH is adjusted, and the solution is reacted, filtered, and dried to obtain iron phosphate dihydrate. This is then calcined to obtain battery-grade iron phosphate. This invention uses nickel pig iron and ferrophosphate slag as raw materials, and utilizes the ferrophosphate slag to promote the full leaching of iron from nickel pig iron, and nickel pig iron to promote the leaching of phosphate and iron from ferrophosphate. With the addition of cationic alkyl polyacrylamide, it achieves high leaching rates of iron and nickel in a short time, and simultaneously achieves the separation of non-ferrous and nickel metal ions during the acid leaching process, so as to finally obtain high-purity, qualified battery-grade nickel sulfate and ferrophosphate.

The invention provides a method for recycling metal from a waste ternary lithium battery positive electrode material. The method comprises the following steps: mixing the waste ternary lithium battery positive electrode material, a binder, a conductive agent and an organic solvent to prepare mixed slurry; coating a current collector with the mixed slurry to obtain an electrode plate; taking the electrode plate as an anode, taking an inert electrode as a cathode, dividing the electrolytic tank into an anode chamber and a cathode chamber by adopting a lithium ion selective permeable membrane, and carrying out oxidation-reduction reaction, so that transition metal ions are dissolved out from electrolyte of the anode chamber, and lithium phosphate precipitates are formed in the cathode chamber; and carrying out post-treatment on the electrolyte in the anode chamber to obtain the nickel-cobalt mixed metal salt. According to the method, the problems of low lithium purity, incomplete transition metal separation, complex process and the like in the traditional recovery technology are solved, and an efficient, environment-friendly and controllable process path is provided for high-valued recovery of valuable metals of the waste ternary lithium batteries.

In the recovery method provided in this application, CO is generated by the reaction of oxalic acid and concentrated sulfuric acid. This provides an acidic atmosphere for the reaction between the cathode powder and CO, allowing some of the cathode powder (LiMeO2) to melt, transforming the solid-gas two-phase system into a solid-gas-liquid three-phase system, which is beneficial for improving the recovery rate of Li ions in LiMeO2. Furthermore, the use of CO for pre-lithiation results in a low lithium content in the solid filter material, minimizing interference from lithium ions in impurity removal and providing the possibility for subsequent efficient impurity removal. On the other hand, under acidic conditions, CO undergoes a reduction reaction with the cathode powder, reducing high-valence ions in the cathode powder to lower-valence ions, resulting in a more thorough reduction. This allows the solid filter material to dissolve in sulfuric acid, achieving efficient impurity removal. Additionally, Al is removed by adding alkali, oxidant, fluoride, and adsorbent. 3+ Fe 3+ Ca 2+ Mg 2+ F ‑ A second solution containing MeSO4 is obtained, which can be used as a precursor for preparing positive electrode active materials. It achieves efficient overall impurity removal and improves lithium recovery rate, while obtaining a high-purity MeSO4 solution.

The application discloses a recycling method of NF3 electrolysis residual solution and relates to the technical field of electrolysis residual solution recycling treatment. The method comprises the following steps: step 1: removing Fe ions in the electrolysis residual solution; first, hydrogen peroxide or oxygen is added into the electrolysis residual solution to oxidize the divalent iron ions into trivalent iron ions, and then ammonia water and sodium hydroxide or ammonium hydrogen carbonate and sodium hydroxide are added into the solution to react, so that the trivalent iron ions are precipitated in the form of iron hydroxide; step 2: the electrolyte solution after the removal of iron is adjusted to a pH of 3-12 by adding hydrofluoric acid, enters an extraction system, extracts the nickel element in the ammonium hydrogen fluoride, and purifies the ammonium hydrogen fluoride; and step 3: the nickel element separated from the electrolyte solution enters a second extraction to synthesize a nickel sulfate product.

The invention provides a process for generating a metal sulphide comprising nickel and / or cobalt, comprising the steps of: i. forming an aqueous metal sulphate solution by reacting sulphuric acid with a raw material feed comprising nickel and / or cobalt in water; ii. crystallizing said metal sulphate from said aqueous metal sulphate solution to form a crystallized metal sulphate in a mother liquor, the mother liquor comprising an uncrystallized metal sulphate; iii. separating said crystallized metal sulphate from said mother liquor; iv. reacting at least a portion of said uncrystallized metal sulphate with hydrogen sulphide in an acidic aqueous medium, thereby obtaining a slurry consisting of a solid phase comprising a metal sulphide precipitate and an aqueous phase comprising one or more impurities and sulphuric acid; and v. separating said solid phase and said aqueous phase.

The present invention relates to a method for extracting metals from the black mass of lithium-ion batteries, the black mass containing the anode and cathode materials of the batteries, and the cathode material comprising lithium and nickel. Further, the invention relates to an arrangement that is suitable for use in the method.

The invention relates to a method for leaching nickel from oxidized ore, a method for producing nickel sulfate, and a nickel leaching agent. Provided is a method capable of selectively leaching Ni from an oxidized ore containing Ni and Si. The method for leaching nickel from oxidized ore according to the present invention comprises: a step for preparing a liquid leaching agent that contains a hydrogen bond acceptor in contact with hydrochloric acid and a hydrophobic organic compound that does not include an unsubstituted alicyclic hydrocarbon compound and an unsubstituted aromatic hydrocarbon compound; and a step in which an oxidized ore containing nickel and silicon is brought into contact with the leaching agent.

The application provides a treatment method of nickel cobalt hydroxide, comprising the following steps: a first leaching process, reducing and acid leaching the nickel cobalt hydroxide to obtain a leaching solution; a neutralization process, adding a neutralizing agent to the leaching solution to obtain a neutralized solution; a first sulfuration process, adding a first sulfuration agent to the neutralized solution to obtain a first sulfuration solution; a second sulfuration process, adding a second sulfuration agent to the first sulfuration solution to obtain a second sulfuration precipitate; an ion exchange process, adding an ion exchange solution to the second sulfuration precipitate to obtain a third sulfuration precipitate; and a second leaching process, mixing the third sulfuration precipitate with a solvent and oxygen to perform pressurized leaching, and then obtaining a metal salt solution, wherein the metal salt comprises at least one of a nickel salt, a cobalt salt and a manganese salt. The treatment method provided in the embodiments of the application can remove metal impurities such as calcium and magnesium, so that a product containing nickel, cobalt and / or manganese is obtained.

The present disclosure provides a method for selective leaching of lithium from lithium-ion battery waste, the method comprising providing water and / or an aqueous solution (10), providing solid lithium-ion battery waste material (12), adding the solid lithium-ion battery waste material to the water and / or to the aqueous solution to obtain a mixture (!4), and providing the mixture in a reactor, providing CO2 to the reactor, maintaining the pressure of the reactor containing CO2 at 50 bar or less, maintaining the temperature of the mixture in the range of 120-250°C, reacting for a time required to leach the lithium (16), and separating liquid comprising leached lithium (18) and / or delithiated solid material (20).

The present invention provides a method for recovering nickel hydroxide and nickel sulfate from nickel-containing materials, wherein the nickel-containing materials are crushed and pulverized and then leached with sulfuric acid, leached residue separation and filtrate separation are performed and then the pH is adjusted to recover nickel hydroxide, and the recovered nickel hydroxide is further subjected to a sulfation reaction to recover nickel sulfate.

The invention relates to the technical field of nickel-containing waste recovery, and particularly discloses a method for producing electrolytic nickel from a nickel-containing solid waste raw material. Nickel-containing waste, tin-containing waste and a synergist are blended and calcined, tin in the tin-containing waste has a low melting point, can form a Ni3Sn2 metal compound with Ni and can also form an alloy phase with Co and Cr, and the nickel-containing waste, the tin-containing waste and the synergist are mixed and calcined. The nickel-based high-temperature alloy waste can permeate among nickel-based alloy grains, the original compact structure is destroyed, the dissolving and leaching difficulty of the nickel-based high-temperature alloy waste is effectively reduced, and the dissolving and leaching efficiency of nickel in the waste is improved; meanwhile, through the effect of the synergist, rapid heating and melting can be achieved, meanwhile, ferrous iron in the nickel-containing waste can be oxidized into ferric oxide, the compact continuity of an original iron-nickel metal phase is broken, the follow-up dissolving and leaching difficulty is lowered, Fe < 2 + > is oxidized into Fe < 3 + >, Fe < 3 + > can form precipitates at the low pH value, and separation is easier.

The present invention relates to amorphous silica comprising particles of amorphous silica with a D50 of from 5 µm to 30 µm. The present invention also relates to a method of producing amorphous silica and metal salts, the method comprising mixing olivine, water and acid in a first vessel and reacting the olivine with the acid to produce amorphous silica.