Accelerated metal separation from chalcopyrite assisted with ozone

Abstract

Chalcopyrite is a very important mineral resource, but metal separation from chalcopyrite requires a long time and high energy. This work proposed an ozonation enhanced acid leaching strategy, and typical operating parameters were optimized. The results showed that the leaching rates of Cu and Fe reached 35.9 % and 36.9 % after 5 h, respectively, with 0.1 mol/L of H₂SO₄, 100 mg/L of O₃ and a L/S ratio of 50:1 at 45 °C, which were about 29.7 and 10.2 times higher than that without O₃. Two novel approaches are further employed to enhance the leaching rates. It was found that the coupling of UV radiation did not play a synergistic role for metal leaching, while it increased rapidly when H₂O₂ was added into the leaching system, though the enhancement effect was not continuous. In addition, ball milling pretreatment and ozone micro-nano bubbles both greatly improved the metal leaching rates from chalcopyrite. The leaching rate of Cu can reach to 86.5 % after ball milling, and the concentrations of Fe and Cu in the leaching solution with O₃ micro-nano bubbles increased by 7.7 and 10.0 times than those with common O₃ bubbles. This work provides a new idea for the development of novel leaching technology of chalcopyrite.