Find in Library
Search millions of books, articles, and more
Indexed Open Access Databases
Chalcopyrite Leaching with Hydrogen Peroxide and Iodine Species in Acidic Chloride Media at Room Temperature: Technical and Economic Evaluation
oleh: Germán A. Moraga, Nathalie E. Jamett, Pía C. Hernández, Teófilo A. Graber, María E. Taboada
| Format: | Article |
|---|---|
| Diterbitkan: | MDPI AG 2021-09-01 |
Deskripsi
In Chile, the hydrometallurgical plants are operating below their capacity due to a depletion of copper oxide ores. To obtain suitable pregnant leach solutions (PLSs) for hydrometallurgical plants, leaching solutions combining iodine-based oxidants and hydrogen peroxide in a chloride–acid medium, at room temperature and pressure were studied. Factorial experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of the different leaching solution reagents (KI, NaIO<sub>3</sub>, NaCl, H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>, and H<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub>). The results showed that the most influential variable is the H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> concentration; increasing the PLS concentration from 3 g/L to 15 g/L increased the copper extraction percentage by ~25%. In decreasing order of importance, the factorial experimental results showed that the H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub>, H<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub>, NaCl, NaIO<sub>3</sub>, and KI concentrations affect the copper extraction percentage. The highest copper extraction percentage (i.e., 60.6%) was obtained using a leaching solution containing the highest reagent concentrations. At these conditions, the copper concentration in the PLS was 16.9 g/L. An economic evaluation of the laboratory-scale leaching experiments showed an increase in the unit cost (USD/t Cu) for experiments involving leaching solutions without H<sub>2</sub>O<sub>2</sub> because of poor copper concentration in the PLS. As the concentrations of the reagents NaIO<sub>3</sub> and KI, increase, the unit cost increases, because the reagents are relatively expensive and have a limited effect on the copper extraction percentage.