Derivation of a semi-empirical model for copper dissolution in HNO 3 solutions with rotating disc technique

Abstract

A semi-empirical model has been derived for the dissolution process of metallic copper in nitric acid solutions, using the rotating disc technique. The experimental results showed that the rate of dissolution of copper d x/d t (g copper min −1) increased with increasing rotating disc speed w (rad s −1), temperature, T (K), disc surface area A (m 2) and nitric acid concentration (mol cm −3). The activation energy, E (kJ mol −1) for the dissolution process was found to be 41.43 kJ mol −1. The semi-empirical model for the process derived from the experimental results was d x d t = 84.6 × 10 2 w 0.44 C 2.71 A e − 4983 / T