Effect of Impurities on Solubility and Metastable Zone Width of Manganese Sulfate Monohydrate

Recovering manganese from waste batteries is an important issue to promote the development of new energy. Herein, nickel sulfate and cobalt sulfate, representative impurities in waste battery leachate, are selected to examine their influence on the crystallization thermodynamics and crystal nucleation of manganese sulfate monohydrate. This work assessed alterations in solubility and metastable zone width (MSZW) due to the presence of impurities. The results showed a decrease in manganese sulfate monohydrate solubility in water with increasing impurity concentrations of either nickel sulfate or cobalt sulfate. The effects of initial concentration, heating rate, and impurity concentration on MSZW demonstrated a consistent increase in MSZW as these factors increased. The MSZW data are fitted using the self-consistent Nývlt-like model and the classical 3D nucleation theory model. The results revealed a general increase in the nucleation rate constant, K, with increasing saturation temperature or decreasing nickel sulfate concentration. Conversely, the solid-liquid interface energy, γ, generally decreases with increasing saturation temperature or decreasing nickel sulfate concentration. Based on the influence observed on the interface energy, a possible mechanism is proposed that suggests that impurities inhibit crystal nucleation through adsorption.