Effects of Fe+2 and Fe+3 in Pretreatment and Leaching on a Mixed Copper Ore in Chloride Media
Abstract
:1. Introduction
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Pretreatment Tests
2.2. Pretreatment-Leaching Tests
3. Results and Discussion
3.1. Pretreatment Test Results
3.2. Pretreatment and Leaching Tests Results (Test C)
4. Column Leaching Modeling
5. Conclusions
- The first stage of pretreatment tests showed a maximal copper extraction of 62.5% with 25 kg/t of acid, 50 kg/t of NaCl, and 30 days of curing. The pretreatment can be improved by incorporating ferrous salts in the curing, increasing the extraction to 67.9%. The main effect plot showed that the concentration of NaCl and curing time could significantly affect the efficiency of the curing process.
- The second stage of tests showed that the maximal extraction of 80.2% is obtained by adding 25 kg/t of acid, 50 kg/t of NaCl, and 25 kg/t of FeSO4·7H2O in the pretreatment and 0.5 g/L of Cu+2, 80 g/L of Cl−, 10 g/L of H2SO4, and 2 g/L of Fe+2 in the leaching solution. At these conditions, the ORP remained below the 650 mV SHE on average. The acid consumption was 0.55 kg acid/t Cu.
- From tests D, we found that a decrease in the chloride content in the leaching solution from 80 to 20 g/L (content in seawater) decrease the copper extraction from 79 to 66.5% (considering ten days of leaching both cases). Additionally, the analysis showed that a decrease in the acid concentration in pretreatment does not mostly affect copper extraction. Conversely, the curing time could affect the extraction on values below 15 days.
- The analytic kinetic model implemented showed acceptable values of SSE and S, demonstrating the goodness of fit. It was concluded that the kinetics constant Kθ presents low variability with pretreatment and leaching at the evaluated leaching conditions.
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Total Cu | Soluble Cu | Fe | S | Mn | Si | Ca | Cl |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
0.44 | 0.24 | 5.49 | 2.46 | 0.05 | 20.71 | 2.79 | 0.18 |
Mineral | Formula | Composition (%) | Cu Distribution (%) |
---|---|---|---|
Atacamite | Cu2Cl(OH)3 | 0.37 | 0.24 |
Chalcopyrite | CuFeS2 | 0.18 | 0.06 |
Chalcocite | Cu2S | 0.13 | 0.10 |
Covellite | CuS | 0.05 | 0.03 |
Bornite | Cu5FeS4 | 0.01 | <0.01 |
Hematite | Fe2O3 | 1.21 | |
Pyrite | FeS2 | 1.12 | |
Limonite | FeOOH | 0.17 | |
Magnetite | Fe3O4 | 0.05 | |
Gangue | 96.71 | ||
Total | 100 | 0.44 |
Test | H2SO4 (kg/t) | NaCl (kg/t) | Curing Time (d) |
---|---|---|---|
A1 | 25 | 20 | 15 |
A2 | 25 | 20 | 30 |
A3 | 25 | 50 | 15 |
A4 | 25 | 50 | 30 |
A5 | 17 | 20 | 15 |
A6 | 17 | 20 | 30 |
A7 | 17 | 50 | 15 |
A8 | 17 | 50 | 30 |
Test | H2SO4 (kg/t) | NaCl (kg/t) | Fe2(SO4)3·9.2H2O (kg/t) | FeSO4·7H2O (kg/t) |
---|---|---|---|---|
B1 | 25 | 50 | - | - |
B2 | 25 | 50 | 25 | - |
B3 | 25 | 50 | - | 25 |
B4 * | 25 | 50 | - | - |
Test | Pretreatment | Leaching | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Fe2(SO4)3·9.2H2O (kg/t) | FeSO4·7H2O (kg/t) | Fe2+ (g/L) | Fe3+ (g/L) | pH Initial | ORP Initial (mV vs. SHE) | |
C1 | - | - | - | 2 | 0.67 | 803 |
C2 | 25 | - | 2 | - | 0.65 | 589 |
C3 | - | 25 | 2 | - | 0.65 | 589 |
C4 * | - | - | 2 | - | 0.65 | 589 |
C5 | - | - | 2 | - | 0.65 | 589 |
C6 | - | - | - | - | 0.40 | 654 |
Test | H2SO4 (kg/t) | Pretreatment Time (d) |
---|---|---|
D1 | 10 | 1 |
D2 | 25 | 1 |
D3 | 10 | 15 |
D4 | 25 | 15 |
D5 | 25 | 30 |
Test | Extraction (%) |
---|---|
D1 | 53.71 |
D2 | 54.87 |
D3 | 62.60 |
D4 | 63.94 |
D5 | 66.46 |
Column | Atacamite | Chalcocite | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
E0 | λ | Kθ | Kτ | E∞ | E0 | λ | Kθ | Kτ | E∞ | |
C1 | 36.91 | 0.9218 | 0.3796 | 0.5373 | 54.70 | 15.38 | 0.9532 | 0.3796 | 0.2088 | 22.79 |
C2 | 39.16 | 0.9458 | 0.3177 | 0.358 | 55.27 | 16.32 | 0.9458 | 0.3177 | 0.3580 | 23.03 |
C3 | 41.99 | 0.9198 | 0.3065 | 0.3247 | 55.87 | 17.50 | 0.9421 | 0.3164 | 0.1625 | 23.28 |
C4 | 35.44 | 0.9288 | 0.3478 | 0.1090 | 56.62 | 14.77 | 0.9469 | 0.2379 | 0.1281 | 23.59 |
C5 | 34.80 | 0.9154 | 0.4602 | 0.0326 | 53.47 | 14.50 | 0.9487 | 0.3490 | 0.0567 | 22.28 |
C6 | 37.27 | 0.9154 | 0.3715 | 0.1487 | 53.34 | 15.53 | 0.9472 | 0.3032 | 0.0106 | 22.22 |
σ | 2.638 | 0.012 | 0.055 | 0.1880 | 1.31 | 1.10 | 0.0040 | 0.0480 | 0.1230 | 0.546 |
CV (%) | 7.017 | 1.249 | 15.185 | 74.783 | 2.38 | 7.02 | 0.3840 | 15.042 | 79.677 | 2.387 |
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Taboada, M.E.; Hernández, P.C.; Padilla, A.P.; Jamett, N.E.; Graber, T.A. Effects of Fe+2 and Fe+3 in Pretreatment and Leaching on a Mixed Copper Ore in Chloride Media. Metals 2021, 11, 866. https://doi.org/10.3390/met11060866
Taboada ME, Hernández PC, Padilla AP, Jamett NE, Graber TA. Effects of Fe+2 and Fe+3 in Pretreatment and Leaching on a Mixed Copper Ore in Chloride Media. Metals. 2021; 11(6):866. https://doi.org/10.3390/met11060866
Chicago/Turabian StyleTaboada, María E., Pía C. Hernández, Aldo P. Padilla, Nathalie E. Jamett, and Teófilo A. Graber. 2021. "Effects of Fe+2 and Fe+3 in Pretreatment and Leaching on a Mixed Copper Ore in Chloride Media" Metals 11, no. 6: 866. https://doi.org/10.3390/met11060866