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Effect of thiourea on the dissolution of chalcopyrite in acidic ferric solutions at different temperatures

University of British Columbia

The effect of thiourea on the electrochemical dissolution of a chalcopyrite electrode and in leaching of a chalcopyrite concentrate in acidic-ferric sulfate solution at mild temperatures (50°C, 65°C, and 80°C) was investigated in the present study. The investigation was conducted in two phases: the first was the electrochemical experimentation to test a broad set of experimental conditions; and the second was the batch leaching of the chalcopyrite concentrate, once the working conditions were narrowed after the electrochemical experiments. The effect of thiourea on the dissolution current density was found to be dependent on the temperature and acid concentration, resulting in higher values at 80°C and 0.3 M H₂SO₄ than at 50°C and 65°C. As for the leaching of the chalcopyrite concentrate at 80°C, the copper extraction is increased by 15% utilizing a 30 mM concentration of thiourea, and 20% at 100 mM concentration, both compared to 0 mM thiourea in solution.

Text

2020-06-30

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/64167

Materials Engineering

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/