Hydrochloric Acid Leaching Behaviors of Copper and Antimony in Speiss Obtained from Top Submerged Lance Furnace

Abstract

Copper (Cu) has been recovered from speiss generated from top submerged lance furnace process, but it was reported that the leaching efficiency of Cu in sulfuric acid solution decreased with increasing antimony (Sb) content in the speiss. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM)–energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) results indicate that Sb exists as CuSb alloy, which would retard the leaching of Cu. Therefore, hydrochloric acid leaching with aeration was performed to investigate the leaching behaviors of copper and antimony. The leaching efficiency of Cu increased with increasing agitation speed, temperature, HCl concentration, and the introduction ratio of O2, but also with decreasing pulp density. The leaching efficiency of Cu increased to more than 99% within 60 min in 1 mol/L HCl solution at 600 rpm and 90 °C with 10 g/L pulp density and 1000 cc/min O2. The leaching efficiency of Sb increased and then decreased in all 1 mol/L HCl leaching tests, and precipitate was observed in the leach solution, which was determined to be SbOCl or Sb2O3 by XRD analyses. However, in 2 mol/L–5 mol/L HCl solutions, the leaching efficiency of Sb increased to more than 95% (about 900 mg/L) and remained, so more than 2 mol/L HCl could stabilize Sb ion in the HCl solution.

Cobalt Metal: Overview of Deposits, Reserves, Processing, and Recycling

“…Critical metals such as Cu, Ni, and Co are extracted from e-waste and inorganic solutions [105]. HNO3 in low concentrations and at room temperature is used to oxidize Cu contained in electronic waste, but this methodology has important limitations.…”

Advances in Selective Flotation and Leaching Process in Metallurgy

“…In this Special Issue, four articles deal with hydrometallurgical processing for Cu, gold (Au), and rare earth metals (REMs) [15][16][17][18]. Chae et al [15] studied hydrochloric acid (HCl) leaching behaviors of Cu and antimony (Sb) in speiss obtained from top submerged lance (TSL) furnace. In general, the speiss containing Cu, Sb, and precious metals (e.g., Au, silver (Ag), etc.)…”

“…The solubility of Sb in H 2 SO 4 is low, which hinders the leaching of Cu. In other words, Sb should be dissolved to improve the leaching efficiency of Cu, so HCl leaching experiments under various conditions were conducted by Chae et al [15]. As a result, they found the optimum condition of HCl leaching where more than 99% of Cu could be dissolved.…”

Sensitivity of Gold Lixiviants for Metal Impurities in Leaching of RAM Printed Circuit Boards

“…Due to the high chemical resistance of gold and the complex nature of WEEE materials, pretreatment steps such as mechanical, thermal, and chemical methods have been studied to increase the reaction surface of the metal compounds and remove base metals prior to gold leaching. The base metals can react with the leaching agent before gold, leading to high lixiviant consumption and the formation of passivation layers, which inhibit gold dissolution [24,25]. Various approaches have been undertaken to identify the most effective pretreatment methods [20,21,[26][27][28].…”