<![CDATA[This study attempts to recover nickel from lateritic ore exploited from North Konawe, Celebes, applying the acid leaching method. Prior to acid leaching, the lateritic deposit of a given size (≤ 200 mesh) was heated in a furnace at 600°C to yield laterite concentrate. The acid leaching route applied 50 mg of a sample for 60 min. of leaching at varied given concentrations of nitric acid and given temperatures for 300 rpm stirring. The extracted nickel content was investigated applying AAS (Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer). This work has examined the effect of varied nitric acid concentrations and temperatures on nickel recovery from laterite concentrate in aqueous solution. The yield showed that 4.0 M nitric acid at 70°C resulted in the highest nickel recovery, i.e., 35.80 mg/L or 3.58%. For the characterization study, XRF (X-Ray Fluorescence) and XRD (X-Ray Diffraction) analyses were utilized to examine chemical elements and crystalline structure of the lateritic deposit. Statistical analysis applying the Kolmogorov-Smirnov (K-S) test was used to assess a normal distribution of nickel recovery to be advantageous for further importance. Pearson correlation and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to reveal any significant correlation between nickel recovery, nitric acid concentration, and leaching temperature. The study verified that the acid leaching route gives benefit for nickel recovery from laterite concentrate on account of its simple, low-cost, and fast nature.]]>
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