Hydrometallurgical Recovery of Cu and Zn from a Complex Sulfide Mineral by Fe3+/H2SO4 Leaching in the Presence of Carbon-Based Materials

Abstract

Chalcopyrite, the main ore of copper, is refractory in sulfuric media with slow dissolution. The most commonly employed hydrometallurgical process for the oxidation of chalcopyrite and copper extraction is the sulfuric acid ferric sulfate system The main objective of the present work is to study the use of cheap carbon-based materials in the leaching of copper and zinc from a sulfide complex mineral from Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB). The addition effect of commercial charcoal (VC) and two magnetic biochars (BM and HM) that were obtained by pyrolysis of biomass wastes was compared to that of commercial activated carbon (AC). The experimental results performed in this work have shown that the presence of carbon-based materials significantly influences the kinetics of chalcopyrite leaching in the sulfuric acid ferric sulfate media at 90 °C. The amount of copper and zinc extracted from IPB without the addition of carbon-based material was 63 and 72%, respectively. The highest amount of extracted zinc (>90%) was obtained with the addition of VC and AC in IPB/carbon-based material ratio of 1/0.25 w/w. Moreover, it is possible to recover more than 80% of copper with the addition of VC in a ratio 1/0.25 w/w. Moreover, an optimization of the properties of the carbon-based material for its potential application as catalyst in the leaching of metals from sulfide is necessary.

Use of Palm Oil Waste for Activated Carbons Production and Its Application in Methylene Blue Removal

“…According to the XRF results (Table 1), palm oil empty fruit bunch has a high content of potassium, silicon, calcium, and magnesium oxides, which are common in plants with long reproductive periods [19] . The Lp sample, however, exhibited a lower amount of these compounds because treatment with H 2 SO 4 causes certain metal compounds to leach from the material [20] . Additionally, a considerable increase in sodium species was observed, indicating that there were remnants of the NaOH used to recover lignin.…”

Recovery and Recycling of Valuable Metals

“…Seventeen articles have been published in this Special Issue of Metals, encompassing the fields of mineral processing and extractive metallurgy [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21]. These articles cover a wide range of topics in the field and provide some ideas for active researchers who are working on the production of valuable metals from primary and secondary resources.…”

Reutilisation of Water Contaminated by Mining Waste for the Encapsulation of Potentially Toxic Elements

“…For treatment of these waters, the processes that have been used take the form of chemical precipitation, i.e., raising the pH to basic pH with the addition of lime, usually to precipitate the metallic elements in solution, and then removing them by decantation [ 18 ]. Other authors have carried out research to concentrate and extract the most economical chemical elements by hydrometallurgical processes [ 19 ]. However, both processes involve an economic cost that sometimes makes their application impossible.…”