Abstract
An experimental investigation was carried out to improve the zinc dissolution rate in the direct atmospheric leaching of marmatite by adding sodium chloride to the sulfuric acid-ferric sulfate‑oxygen media. The experiments were carried out by using mono-sized marmatite particles varying the concentrations of sulfuric acid from 0.1 to 1.3 M, ferric sulfate from 0 to 0.8 M, sodium chloride from 0 to 1.3 M, and temperature in the range of 60 to 95 °C. The results showed that the addition of 0.7 M of sodium chloride improved drastically the direct leaching kinetics of the zinc sulfide; therefore, this leaching media is an excellent alternative to produce zinc from marmatite concentrates at ambient pressure. The sulfuric acid concentration was also found to have a significant effect on the rate of dissolution, indicating that the non-oxidative dissolution of marmatite plays an important role in the reaction mechanism in this system. A shrinking core model with diffusion through a product layer control was found to fit the reaction rate. An apparent activation energy value of 81.8 kJ/mol was found for the temperature range of 60–95 °C. The direct atmospheric leaching of marmatite in H2SO4-Fe(SO4)1.5-NaCl-O2 is an excellent alternative method to extract zinc due to high dissolution rates obtained in the presence of chloride ions, reducing substantially the treatment times.
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