Copper Solubility and Redox Equilibria in Magnesia Saturated CaO-CuOx-FeOx Slags

Abstract

Abstract New measurements on solubility of copper and redox equilibria in magnesia-saturated calcium ferrite-based slags are presented. These data were obtained from equilibrium experiments at 1573 K (1300 °C) and over a range of oxygen partial pressures of 10−11 to 10−5 atm, through equilibrating the slag with metallic copper in magnesia crucibles under a flowing Ar-CO-CO2 gas mixture. At low oxygen partial pressures, copper was found to dissolve into slag as a univalent species (CuO0.5) with a linear dependence on the oxygen partial pressure (in logarithm), with a slope of 0.23. At higher oxygen partial pressures (>10−7 atm), the data suggest a divalent copper species becomes significant (CuO) and causes the dependence on oxygen partial pressure to increase. The determination of the Fe3+/Fe2+ ratio in the slag was effected by the cuprous (Cu+) content, which acts to increase the apparent ferrous (Fe2+) content during acid digestion. A correction procedure was applied to the Fe3+/Fe2+ ratio based on the calculated Cu+ content of the slag. The procedure assumes that the activity coefficients of CuO0.5 and CuO ( $$ \gamma_{{{\text{CuO}}_{ 0. 5} }} $$ γ CuO 0.5 and γ CuO) in these slags are independent of oxygen partial pressure. The calculated activity coefficients of CuO0.5 and CuO were 3.43 and 0.29, respectively. The corrected Fe3+/Fe2+ ratio had a linear dependence of 0.17 on the oxygen partial pressure over the entire oxygen partial pressure range. This agrees with similar data from the literature.