Iron and copper recovery from copper slags through smelting with waste cathode carbon from aluminium electrolysis

To recover metal from copper slags,a new process involving two steps of oxidative desulfurization followed by smelting reduction was proposed in which one hazardous waste(waste cathode carbon)was used to treat another(copper slags).The waste cathode carbon is used not only as a reducing agent but also as a fluxing agent to decrease slag melting point.Upon holding for 60 min in air atmosphere first and then smelting with 14.4 wt%waste cathode carbon and 25 wt%CaO for 180 min in high purity Ar atmosphere at 1450℃,the recovery rates of Cu and Fe reach 95.89%and 94.64%,respectively,and meanwhile greater than 90%of the fluoride from waste cathode carbon is transferred into the final slag as CaF_(2) and Ca_(2)Si_(2)F_(2)O_(7),which makes the content of soluble F in the slag meet the national emission standard.Besides,the sulphur content in the obtained Fe-Cu alloy is low to 0.03 wt%.

Recovery of copper from simulated ammoniacal spent etchant using sterically hindered beta-diketone

The solvent extraction of copper from simulated ammoniacal spent etchant with 1-（4＇-dodecyl）-phenyl-3-tertiary butyl-1,3-octadione（HR） was studied,and a model of extraction isotherm was proposed and verified with equilibrium extraction constant.The influence of equilibration time,extractant concentration and phase ratio on the extraction of copper was studied at（298±0.5） K.For the spent etching solutions containing 112.98 g/L Cu,6 mol/L NH3 and 1 mol/L NH4＋,the optimal solvent extraction condition of copper was obtained in one-stage solvent extraction at phase ratio of 5：4 with 40% HR in sulphonated kerosene for 5 min.The copper concentration in the raffinate decreased to 63.24 g/L and raffinate can be favorably recycled to the etching solution.The stripping studies were carried out with the simulated copper spent electrolyte containing 30 g/L Cu and 180 g/L H2SO4.The stripping ratio is 98.27% from the loaded organic phase after one-stage stripping at phase ratio of 1：2 at（298±0.5） K.

Separation and recovery of copper in Cu-As-bearing copper electrorefining black slime by oxidation acid leaching and sulfide precipitation

A new hydrometallurgical route for separation and recovery of Cu from Cu-As-bearing copper electrorefining black slime was developed. The proposed process comprised oxidation acid leaching of Cu-As-bearing slime and selective sulfide precipitation of Cu from the leachate. The effects of various process parameters on the leaching and precipitation of Cu and As were investigated. At the first stage, Cu extraction of 95.2% and As extraction of 97.6% were obtained at 80 ℃ after 4 h with initial H2 SO4 concentration of 1.0 mol/L and liquid-to-solid ratio of 10 mL/g. In addition, the leaching kinetics of Cu and As was successfully reproduced by the Avrami model, and the apparent activation energies were found to be 33.6 and 35.1 kJ/mol for the Cu and As leaching reaction, respectively, suggesting a combination of chemical reaction and diffusion control. During the selective sulfide precipitation, about 99.4% Cu was recovered as CuS, while only 0.1% As was precipitated under the optimal conditions using sulfide-to-copper ratio of 2.4:1, time of 1.5 h and temperature of 25 ℃.

Electrochemistry during efficient copper recovery from complex electronic waste using ammonia based solutions

Leaching selectivity during metal recovery from complex electronic waste using a hydrochemical process is always one of the generic issues. It was recently improved by using ammonia-based leaching process, specifically for electronic waste enriched with copper. This research proposes electrodeposition as the subsequent approach to effectively recover copper from the solutions after selective leaching of the electronic waste and focuses on recognising the electrochemical features of copper recovery. The electrochemical reactions were investigated by considering the effects of copper concentration, scan rate and ammonium salts. The diffusion coefficient, charge transfer coefficient and heterogeneous reaction constant of the electrodeposition process were evaluated in accordance with different solution conditions. The results have shown that electrochemical recovery of copper from ammonia- based solution under the conditions of selective electronic waste treatment is charge transfer controlled and provide bases to correlate the kinetic parameters with further optimisation of the selective recovery of metals from electronic waste.

Effect of copper slag recovery on hydrometallurgical cut-off grades considering environmental aspects

Determining the hydrometallurgical cut-off grades specifies the destination of low grade materials and this is subjected to more benefits in mining. Copper production rate is considered as one of the fundamental issues in hydrometallurgical cut-off grades determination. Slags are remarked as one of the main sources of copper. It is not only regarded as a waste but also identified as another resource extracting base metals. Slags are characterized by copper high grade. Thus, slag copper recovery can be led to different cut-off grades and net present value(NPV). The current research scrutinizes the effect of slag recovery by both flotation and hydrometallurgical methods on the hydrometallurgical cut-off grades. For this purpose, the optimum cut-off grade algorithms of hydrometallurgical methods are developed by considering associated environmental parameters, incomes and also the costs. Then, their optimum amounts are calculated with NPV maximization as an objective function. The results indicate that considering slag copper recovery in the hydrometallurgical cut-off grade algorithms reduces the environmental costs caused by slag dumping and leads to more NPV by 9%.

Copper recovery from waste printed circuit boards concentrated metal scraps by electrolysis

Copper recovery is the core of waste printed circuit boards （WPCBs） treatment. In this study, we proposed a feasible and efficient way to recover copper from WPCBs concentrated metal scraps by direct electrolysis and thctors that affect copper recovery rate and purity, mainly CuSO4.5H2O concentration, NaCI concentration, H2SO4 concentration and current density, were discussed in detail. The results indicated that copper recovery rate increased first with the increase ofCuSO4- 5H2O, NaCI, H2SO4 and current density and then decreased with further increasing these conditions. NaCI, H2SO4 and current density also showed a similar impact on copper purity, which also increased first and then decreased. Copper purity increased with the increase of CuSO4.5H2O. When the concentration of CuSO4-5H2O NaCI and H2oSO4 was respectively 90, 40 and 118 g/L and current density was 80 mA/cm-, copper recovery rate and purity was up to 97.32% and 99.86%, respectively. Thus, electrolysis proposes a feasible and prospective approach for waste printed circuit boards recycle, even for e-waste, though more researches are needed for industrial application.

Ag recovery from copper anode slime by acid leaching at atmospheric pressure to synthesize silver nanoparticles

In this paper, recovery of silver from anode slime of Sarcheshmeh copper complex in lran and subsequent synthesis of silver nanoparticles from leaching solution is investigated. Sarcheshmeh anode slime is mainly consisted ofCu, Ag, Pb and Se. Amount of Ag in the considered anode slime was 5.4% （by weight）. The goal was to recover as much as possible Ag from anode slime at atmospheric pressure to synthesize Ag nanoparticles. Therefore, acid leaching was used for this purpose. The anode slime was leached with sulfuric and nitric acid from room to 90 ~C at different acid concentrations and the run which yielded the most recovery of Ag was selected for Ag nanoparticles synthesis. At this condition, Cu, Pb and Se are lea- ched as well as Ag. To separate Ag from leach solution HCI was added and silver was precipitated as AgCl which were then dissolved by ammonia solution. The Ag nanoparticles are synthesized from this solution by chemical reduction method by aid of sodium borohydride in the presence of PVP and PEG as stabilizers. The synthesized Ag nanoparticles showed a peak of 394 nm in UV-vis spectrum and TEM images showed a rather uniform Ag nanoparticles of 12 nm.

Bioleaching of a kind of alkaline mixed copper oxide and sulphide mineral

We conducted two-stage acidification-bioleaching experiments to probe the feasibility of bioleaching for a kind of mixed alkaline copper oxide and sulphide mineral. We used the uniform design method for data analysis and experimental optimization, with initial pH value, pulp density, inoculation of bacteria and ferrous iron concentration selected as the influential factors. Polynomial regression shows that the four factors sequentially influence the copper recovery by 14.430%, 8.555%, 1.982% and 3.895%. Acid equilibrium in the bioleaching system is mainly influenced by alkaline gangue content, chemical reactions and bacterial activity. A maximal portion of refractory copper extracted reaches 71.08%. The dynamic analysis of copper recovery indicates that bioleaching goes through a lag leaching phase, prime leaching phase and leaching stationary phase corresponding to the growth phases of bacteria. Compared with the predicted value of 80.87%, the confirmatory experiment observes a 78.21% copper recovery under the optimal conditions of pH of 1.5, pulp density of 5%, bacteria inoculation of 30% and initial ferrous iron concentration of 9 g L-1. Results suggest that bioleaching is technically feasible to improving total copper recovery.

Enrichment of copper and recycling of cyanide from copper–cyanide waste by solvent extraction

The enrichment of copper from copper–cyanide wastewater by solvent extraction was investigated using a quaternary ammonium salt as an extractant. The influences of important parameters, e.g., organic-phase components, aqueous pH values, temperature, inorganic anion impurities, CN/Cu molar ratio, and stripping reagents, were examined systematically, and the optimal conditions were determined. The results indicated that copper was effectively concentrated from low-concentration solutions using Aliquat 336 and that the extraction efficiency increased linearly with increasing temperature. The aqueous pH value and concentrations of inorganic anion impurities only weakly affected the extraction process when varied in appropriate ranges. The CN/Cu molar ratio affected the extraction efficiency by changing the distribution of copper–cyanide complexes. The difference in gold leaching efficiency between using raffinate and fresh water was negligible.

The Effects of Water Recycling on Flotation at a North American Concentrator—Part 1

Water chemistry and its impact on mineral processing operations are not well understood and often not adequately monitored. CanmetMINING, as part of its water management research program, has been involved in a project initiated to identify opportunities for improving water recovery, water treatment, and recycling in the mining and mineral processing operations. One of the main objectives of this work is to evaluate and assess water chemistry and identify factors that impact mineral recovery, concentrate grade, and metal extraction efficiencies in order to understand and mitigate negative impacts of water recycling and improve process efficiency. In collaboration with a North American concentrator, CanmetMINING has been involved in assessing the water chemistry in the mill and evaluating water recycling options for select process streams to reduce fresh water intake and maximize recycling. The overall goal of the project is to investigate options for water recycling (increase the thickener overflow recirculation from thickener overflow tank) without affecting nickel and copper metallurgy. The results of the sampling campaigns showed that the water chemistry of the streams was fairly consistent throughout the year with no significant seasonal variations. The laboratory tests illustrated that when higher quantities of thickener overflow from thickener overflow were used, the nickel + copper grade versus nickel recovery curves shifted towards lower values. These observations were observed for the plant water samples obtained in April, June and August 2019.