奥托昆普湿法炼铜法

Outokumpu HydroCopper Process for Copper Recovery

奥托昆普公司提出了由硫化铜精矿湿法炼铜的新工艺,即:用氢氧化钠由净化后的浸出母液中沉淀出氧化亚铜;在氯—碱电解槽中再生氢氧化钠;氯碱电解的其它产物(Cl2、H2)也在工艺中循环利用:氯气送精矿浸出,氢气送氧化亚铜的还原,将氧化亚铜还原为金属铜。从氯化物溶液中电积铜容易形成树枝状的铜结晶,一定程度上使得隔膜电解槽的操作变得复杂。奥托昆普湿法炼铜工艺克服了这个缺陷。

The utilization of chloride solutions is advantageous due to the aggressiveness in leaching and the stability of the cuprous ion. However, the electrowinning of copper from chloride solutions promotes dendroid copper deposits, making operations somewhat complicated in an electrolytic diaphragm cell. To overcome this drawback, a novel process has been developed, in which cuprous oxide is precipitated with sodium hydroxide from the purified pregnant leach solution. Sodium hydroxide is regenerated in a chlor-alkali cell. The other products of the electrolyser are also recirculated, chlorine gas to concentrate leaching and hydrogen gas to the reduction of cuprous oxide to metallic copper.This paper discusses the new technology for copper production and the experimental work on Outokumpu HydroCopper. To verify the technology Outokumpu has designed and constructed a demonstration plant in Pori, Finland. Operation started in March 2003.