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UBC Theses and Dissertations

Synthesis and solubility of arsenic tri-sulfide and sodium arsenic oxy-sulfide complexes in alkaline sulfide solutions Li, Wen

Abstract

Alkaline sulfide leaching (ASL) at approximately 100 ºC has been used to selectively extract arsenic and antimony from enargite and tetrahedrite concentrates. Sodium thio-arsenate has been postulated to crystallize from alkaline sulfide leaching solutions upon cooling. However, literature data on the solubility of sodium thio-arsenate as well as proof of its crystallization from ASL solutions is scant. In this thesis, the solubility of leach-produced and synthetic sodium thio-arsenate is studied. To determine arsenic solubility in ASL solutions, sodium thio-arsenate and sodium arsenic oxide sulfide complexes are synthesized by various means and characterized by EDX, QXRD, and ICP. The synthesis of amorphous As₂S₃, sodium arsenic oxy-sulfide complexes, and sodium thio-arsenate is first presented. For amorphous As₂S₃ synthesis, the effect of concentration of sodium sulfide (0.1 M) and hydrochloric acid (1 M), temperature (40 ~ 60 ºC), and aging time (48 hours) was optimized. The solubility of synthetic sodium arsenic oxy-sulfide complexes and sodium thio-arsenate in ASL solutions increases significantly as temperature is increased to 95 ºC. More importantly, the solubility of sodium thio-arsenate at certain temperatures is significantly affected by the concentration of sodium hydroxide and sulfide in solution. Due to the common ion effect, if NaOH and HS- concentrations are very high, the solubility of sodium thio-arsenate decreases. Enargite leaching tests were done to characterize the precipitate that occurred upon cooling and to verify the arsenic saturation point, which should be between 38.5 ~ 58 g/L (0.51 M ~ 0.78 M) As depending on the NaOH and HS- concentration. Comparison with solubility experiments of pure sodium thio-arsenate shows that arsenic solubility in ASL solutions is supersaturated. However, direct comparison of saturation in ASL solutions and the solubility as obtained by the synthetic solutions/crystallites prepared here is not possible given the complex nature of the ASL crystallites that appear not to contain the often discussed “sodium thio-arsenate”.

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Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International