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.
Highlights
Sulfide minerals are an important chemical form of several metal resources in nature.For example, 90% of global copper resources are sulfide ores, where most of the copper is in the form of covellite (CuS), chalcocite (Cu2 S), chalcopyrite (CuFeS2 ), and bornite (Cu5 FeS4 )
Chalcopyrite is refractory in sulfuric media with slow dissolution rates [6,7]
The addition effect of commercial charcoal and two magnetic biochars that were obtained by pyrolysis of biomass wastes was compared to that of commercial activated carbon
Summary
90% of global copper resources are sulfide ores, where most of the copper is in the form of covellite (CuS), chalcocite (Cu2 S), chalcopyrite (CuFeS2 ), and bornite (Cu5 FeS4 ). Hydrometallurgical processes were used in the treatment of covellite and chalcocite deposits in a similar way to oxidized forms, due to their solubility in acid medium, but these resources are largely exhausted. With the increase in the copper demand, the decline of high-grade ores has extended and, nowadays, deposits with grades around 0.4–0.5% of copper are mined. The exploitation of these reserves by traditional flotation methods followed by pyrometallurgical processes (smelting-converting-electrorefining route) is in the limit of economic viability. Chalcopyrite is refractory in sulfuric media with slow dissolution rates [6,7]
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