Leaching characteristics of ion-adsorption type rare earths ore with magnesium sulfate

Magnesium sulfate was proposed to be leaching agent to deal with the ion-adsorption type rare earths ore to reduce or even eliminate ammonia?nitrogen emissions. The effects of temperature, particle size and stirring speed on rare earth leaching process and the leaching behaviors of the single rare earth element were investigated in order to reveal the rare earth leaching characteristics. Besides, the comparison of leaching effects between magnesium sulfate and ammonium sulfate was also studied. The results showed that the rare earth leaching process could be well described with inner diffusion control model and the apparent activation energy was 9.48 kJ/mol. The leaching behaviors of the single rare earth element were brought into correspondence with rare earths. Moreover, when the concentration of leaching agent was 0.20 mol/L, the rare earth leaching efficiency could all reach above 95% and the leaching efficiency of aluminum impurities could be restrained by 10% using magnesium sulfate compared with ammonium sulfate.

Reductive leaching of manganese oxide ores using waste tea as reductant in sulfuric acid solution

Manganese oxide ores from Gabon and Xiangxi were leached with waste tea as reductant in dilute sulfuric acid solution. The effects of waste tea dosage, concentration of sulfuric acid, liquid-to-solid ratio, leaching temperature and reaction time on leaching process were explored. The leaching efficiency of Gabonese manganese oxide ore reached almost 100% under the optimal condition which was determined as follows： manganese oxide ore to waste tea mass ratio of 10：1, sulfuric acid concentration of 2.5 molFL, liquid-to-solid ratio of 7.5：1, leaching temperature of 368 K, time of 8 h. The leaching efficiency of Xiangxi manganese oxide ore reached 99.8% under the optimal condition which was determined as follows： manganese oxide ore to waste tea mass ratio of 10：1, sulfuric acid concentration of 1.7 mol/L, liquid-to-solid ratio of 7.5：1, leaching temperature of 368 K, time of 8 h. The leaching process followed the internal diffusion controlled kinetic model, and the apparent activation energies of Gabonese manganese oxide ore and Xiangxi manganese oxide ore were calculated to be 38.2 kJ/mol and 20.4 kJ/mol, respectively. The morphological changes and mineralogical forms of the ore before and after the chemical treatment were discussed with the support of XRD analysis and SEM analysis.

Leaching behaviors of iron and aluminum elements of ion-absorbed-rare-earth ore with a new impurity depressant

Ion-absorbed rare-earth ore is an important mineral resource which is widely extracted by in-situ leaching process. And such process generates a significant amount of impurities such as aluminum and iron ions in leaching solution simultaneously. The surface characteristics and interactions by infrared spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction were studied to optimize the leaching conditions. It is found that the environment-friendly depressant LG-01 can react with the impurity ions through the formation of a new complex on the surface of leaching residues. Thus, it reduces significantly the concentration of impurity ions in leaching solution and improves the leaching rate of rare-earth ore. Moreover, a leaching rate of 95.6% and an impurity removal rate of 92% have been achieved under the optimized conditions.

Extraction of molybdenum and nickel from Ni-Mo ore by pressure acid leaching

A direct hydrometallurgical route for nickel and molybdenum extraction from a nickel-molybdenum （Ni-Mo） ore using pressure acid leaching was studied. The nickel and molybdenum were extracted by acid leaching under oxygen pressure. Compared with traditional roasting methods, this hydrometallurgical method eliminates SO2 and As203 emission （the Ni-Mo ore containing 15%-25% S）. Compared with existing alkali leaching recovery of molybdenum process, almost all the nickel and considerable molybdenum were extracted in the acid leaching process. Under oxygen pressure conditions, almost all the nickel and a substantial part of the molybdenum were dissolved into the acid leaching liquor and the other part of the molybdenum was left in the acid leach residue. The acid leach residue was further leached under alkaline （NaOH） conditions. Under optimal experimental conditions, the extraction rates nickel and molybdenum reached 97% and 96%, respectively.

Kinetics of rare earth leaching from roasted ore of bastnaesite with sulfuric acid

Sulfuric acid leaching process was applied to extracting rare earth（RE） from roasted ore of Dechang bastnaesite in Sichuan,China.The effect of particle size,stirring speed,sulfuric acid concentration and leaching temperature on RE extraction efficiency was investigated,and the leaching kinetics of RE was analyzed.Under selected leaching conditions,including particle size（0.074-0.100 mm）,sulfuric acid concentration 1.50 mol/L,mass ratio of liquid to solid 8 and stirring speed 500 r/min,the leaching kinetics analysis shows that the reaction rate of leaching process is controlled by diffusion through the product/ash layer which can be described by the shrinking-core model,and the calculated activation energy of 9.977 kJ/mol is characteristic for a diffusion-controlled process.

Column leaching process of rare earth and aluminum from weathered crust elution-deposited rare earth ore with ammonium salts

In order to better understand the leaching process of rare earth （RE） and aluminum （Al） from the weathered crust elutiondepositedRE ore, the mass transfer of RE and Al in column leaching was investigated using the chromatographic plate theory. Theresults show that a higher initial ammonium concentration in a certain range can enhance the mass transfer process. pH of leachingagent in the range of 2 to 8 almost has no effect on the mass transfer efficiency of RE, but plays a positive role in the mass transferefficiency of Al under strong acidic condition （pH〈4）. There is an optimum flow rate that makes the highest mass transfer efficiency.The optimum leaching condition of RE is the leaching agent pH of 4？8, ammonium concentration of 0.4 mol/L and flow rate of0.5 mL/min. The mass transfer efficiencies of RE and Al both follow the order： （NH4）2SO4〈NH4Cl〈NH4NO3, implying thecomplexing ability of anion.

Leaching kinetics of low-grade copper ore containing calcium-magnesium carbonate in ammonia-ammonium sulfate solution with persulfate

The leaching kinetics of copper from low-grade copper ore was investigated in ammonia-ammonium sulfate solution with sodium persulfate. The effect parameters of stirring speed, temperature, particle size, concentrations of ammonia, ammonium sulfate and sodium persulfate were determined. The results show that the leaching rate is nearly independent of agitation above 300 r/min and increases with the increase of temperature, concentrations of ammonia, ammonium sulfate and sodium persulfate. The EDS analysis and phase quantitative analysis of the residues indicate that bornite can be dissolved by persulfate oxidization. The leaching kinetics with activation energy of 22.91 kJ/mol was analyzed by using a new shrinking core model （SCM） in which both the interfacial transfer and diffusion across the product layer affect the leaching rate. A semi-empirical rate equation was obtained to describe the leaching process and the empirical reaction orders with respect to the concentrations of ammonia, ammonium sulfate and sodium persulfate are 0.5, 1.2 and 0.5, respectively.

Effect of ore size and heap porosity on capillary process inside leaching heap

The capillary process coexists with gravity flow within leaching heap due to the dual-porosity structure. Capillary rise is responsible for the mineral dissolution in fine particle zones and interior coarse rock. The effect of particle size and heap porosity on the capillary process was investigated through a series of column tests. Macropore of the ore heap was identified, and its capillary rise theory analysis was put forward. Two groups of ore particles, mono-size and non-uniform, were selected for the capillary rise test. The result shows that particle size has an inverse effect on the capillary ultimate height, and smaller particles exhibit higher capillary rise. Meanwhile, the poorly graded group exhibits small rise height and velocity, while the capillary rise in the well-graded particles is much greater. The relationship between porosity and fitting parameters of capillary rise was obtained. Low porosity and high surface tension lead to higher capillary height of the fine gradation. Moisture content increases with the capillary rise level going up, the relationship between capillary height and moisture content was obtained.

Leaching of low grade zinc oxide ores in Ida^(2-)-H_2O system

Ida2--H2O system（iminodiacetate aqueous solution） was used to leach a low grade zinc oxide ore for Zn extraction.The effects of leaching time,liquid-solid ratio（L/S）,total concentration of Ida2-（[Ida2-]T）,leaching temperature and pH on Zn leaching recovery and the dissolution of impurities such as Ca,Mg,Cu,Ni,Fe,Pb and Cd were investigated.Results show that Ca,Mg and Fe in ores were hardly dissolved in alkalescent iminodiacetate aqueous solution,while valuable metals such as Cu,Ni,Pb and Cd were partly dissolved into leaching liquor with Zn.The recovery of Zn reaches 76.6% when the ores were leached for 4 h at 70 ℃ by 0.9 mol/L iminodiacetate aqueous solution with pH of 8 and L/S of 5：1.

Manganese extraction by reduction-acid leaching from low-grade manganese oxide ores using CaS as reductant

The extraction of manganese from low-grade manganese oxide ores using Ca S derived from Ca SO4 as reductant was investigated. The effects of mass ratio of Ca S to ore, reduction temperature, reduction time, liquid to solid ratio（L/S ratio）, stirring speed, leaching temperature, leaching time and H2SO4 concentration on the leaching rates of Mn and Fe during the reduction–acid leaching process were discussed. The leaching rates of 96.47% for Mn and 19.24% for Fe were obtained under the optimized conditions of mass ratio of Ca S to manganese oxide ore 1：6.7, L/S ratio 5：1, stirring speed 300 r/min, reduction temperature of 95 °C for 2.0 h in the reduction process and leaching stirring speed of 200 r/min, H2SO4 concentration of 1.5 mol/L, leaching temperature of 80 °C for 5 min in the leaching process. In addition, this process can be employed in the recovery of manganese from various manganese oxide ores, and Mn leaching rate above 95% is obtained.

Extraction of molybdenum and nickel from roasted Ni-Mo ore by hydrochloric acid leaching, sulphation roasting and water leaching

To extract molybdenum and nickel from the roasted Ni-Mo ore, a process of hydrochloric acid leaching, sulphation roasting and water leaching was investigated. The results showed that this process could get a high leaching rate of Mo and Ni. Under the optimum conditions of hydrochloric acid leaching （roasted Ni-Mo ore leached with 0.219 mL/g hydrochloric acid addition at 65 ℃ for 30 min with a L/S ratio of 3 mL/g）, sulphation roasting （51.9% sulfiaric acid addition, roasting temperature 240 ℃ for 1 h）, followed by leaching with the first stage hydrochloric acid leaching solution at 95 ℃ for 2 h, the leaching rates of Mo and Ni reached 95.8% and 91.3%, respectively.

Leaching process of rare earths from weathered crust elution-deposited rare earth ore

In order to strengthen the leaching procedure,the chemical processes of leaching rare earths (RE) from the weathered crust elution-deposited rare earth ore were investigated frow the viewpoints of kinetics,hydrodynamic and mass transfer.The results show that the leaching hydrodynamics follows the Darcy law.The leaching kinetics can be described by the shrinking core model;the leaching process is controlled by diffusion of porous solid layer;and the mass transfer can be described with Van Deemter equation.This provides a theoretic basis and a scientific approach with high efficiency and optimized extraction conditions in industrial practice.

Recovery of valuable metals from a low-grade nickel ore using an ammonium sulfate roasting-leaching process

Metal leaching from a low-grade nickel ore was investigated using an ammonium sulfate roasting-water leaching process. The nickel ore was mixed with ammonium sulfate, followed by roasting and finally leaching with water. During the process the effects of the amotmt of ammonium sulfate, roasting temperature, and roasting time on the leaching recovery of metal elements were analyzed. The optimum technological parameters were determined as follows： ammonium sulfate/ore ratio, 0.8 g/g; roasting temperature, 400℃; and roasting time, 2 h. Under the optimum condition the leaching recoveries ofNi, Cu, Fe, and Mg were 83.48%, 76.24%, 56.43%, and 62.15%, respectively. Furthermore, the dissolution kinetics of Ni and Mg from the nickel ore was studied. The apparent activation energies for the leaching reaction of Ni and Mg were 18.782 and 10.038 kJ.mo1-1, which were consistent with the values of diffusion control reactions. Therefore, the results demonstrated that the leaching recoveries of Ni and Mg were controlled by diffusion.

Treatment of copper-rich gold ore by cyanide leaching, ammonia pretreatment and ammoniacal cyanide leaching

The treatment of a copper sulphide-bearing gold ore by direct cyanide leaching, ammonia pretreatment and ammoniacal cyanide leaching was investigated. Dissolution behaviour of gold and copper in these leaching systems was demonstrated. Severe interference by the copper containing sulphides with cyanide leaching of gold is observed at p（NaCN）〈5 g/L. This is consistent with speciation calculations. Ammonia pretreatment is shown to readily eliminate the copper interference, allowing almost complete extraction of gold with concomitantly low reagent consumption in subsequent cyanide leaching. In ammoniacal cyanide system, Box-Behnken experimental design shows the main and interaction effects of NH3, NaCN and Pb（NO3）2. The concentrations of NH3 and NaCN are statistically confirmed to be significant factors affecting extraction of gold while the effect of Pb（NO3）2 is limited. Increasing the concentration of NH3 improves the selectivity and extent of gold extraction and reduces the cyanide consumption. The contribution of reagent interactions to gold extraction is statistically insignificant. These findings highlight that ammonia pretreatment and ammonia-cyanide leaching are promising approaches for the treatment of gold ores with high copper sulphide content.

Leaching hydrodynamics of weathered elution-deposited rare earth ore

Both porosity ( φ ) and permeability ( k ) of the weathered elution deposited rare earth ores are basic hydrodynamic parameters for RE leaching. The relationship between k and φ of two typical rare earth ores of South China in the packed bed was investigated by measuring the flow ( Q ) under various leaching pressure difference (Δ p ). The experimental results show that the relationship between k and φ is unique, moreover the relationship between Q and Δ p is in accord with the Darcy’s law. The effects of the type of ores, the leaching reagents and its concentration, the granule ore size on the leaching permeability have also been investigated. It is demonstrated that k H (for heavy RE ore, k H=35.98?mm 2)> k M H (for middle heavy RE ore, k M H =28.50?mm 2), whereas k (NH 4NO 3)> k (NH 4Cl)> k [(NH 4) 2SO 4], and the k value increases with increasing leaching reagents concentration and granule ore size( k 0.60～0.75?mm =99.96?mm 2, k 0.125～0.60?mm =11.83?mm 2, k 0.074～0.125?mm =0.84?mm 2). [

Extraction of valuable metals from low-grade nickeliferous laterite ore by reduction roasting-ammonia leaching method

Nickel and cobalt were extracted from low-grade nickeliferous laterite ore using a reduction roasting-ammonia leaching method.The reduction roasting-ammonia leaching experimental tests were chiefly introduced,by which fine coal was used as a reductant.The results show that the optimum process conditions are confirmed as follows:in reduction roasting process,the mass fraction of reductant in the ore is 10%,roasting time is 120 min,roasting temperature is 1 023-1 073 K;in ammonia leaching process,the liquid-to-solid ratio is 4:1(mL/g),leaching temperature is 313 K,leaching time is 120 min,and concentration ratio of NH3 to CO2 is 90 g/L:60 g/L.Under the optimum conditions,leaching efficiencies of nickel and cobalt are 86.25% and 60.84%,respectively.Therefore,nickel and cobalt can be effectively reclaimed,and the leaching agent can be also recycled at room temperature and normal pressure.

Enhancing the leaching effect of an ion-absorbed rare earth ore by ameliorating the seepage effect with sodium dodecyl sulfate surfactant

Ameliorating the problem of low leaching efficiency,long leaching period,and high agent consumption should be studied to efficiently exploit ion-absorbed rare earth ore resources.In this study,the surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate(SDS) is used to enhance the leaching effect of an ion-absorbed rare earth ore by ameliorating the seepage effect for the first time.The effects of surfactant concentration,leaching agent dosage,solution flow velocity,and solution pH on the leaching rate were explored,and the mechanism of SDS was discussed.Under the optimum conditions,the addition of a small amount of SDS(mass fraction0.04%) can increase the leaching rate by about 5%,shorten the leaching period,and reduce the consumption of the leaching agent.SDS significantly ameliorates the seepage effect of the ore body by reducing the surface tension of the leaching agent and ameliorating the wettability of the mineral surface.This effect is the main factor that improves the leaching efficiency.DFT(density functional theory) calculation results show that SDS can react with rare earth ions,which reduces the adsorption strength on clay mineral surfaces.Hence,rare earth ions are easily exchanged by ammonium ions,and mass transfer is enhanced.

Kinetic Investigations on the Leaching of Niobium from a Low-Grade Niobium-Tantalum Ore by Concentrated KOH Solution

The leaching kinetics of niobium from a low-grade niobium-tantalum ore by concentrated KOH solu-tion under atmospheric pressure has been studied. Significant effects of reaction temperature, KOH concentration, stirring speed, particle size and inass ratio of alkali-to-ore on the dissolution rate of niobium were examined. The experimental data of the leaching rates and the observed effects of the relevant operating variables were well in-terpreted with a shrinking core model under diffusion control. By using the Arrhenius expression, the apparent activation energy for the dissolution of niobium was evaluated. Finally, on the base of the shrinking core model, the rate equation was established.

Transformation and leaching kinetics of silicon from low-grade nickel laterite ore by pre-roasting and alkaline leaching process

The mineralogical phase transformation of a low-grade nickel laterite ore during pre-roasting process and the extraction of silicon during alkaline leaching process were investigated.The results indicate that the reaction activity of nickel ores is effectively improved by pre-roasting at650°C for2h,because of the transformation of lizardite into magnesium olivine and protoenstatite.When finely ground ore samples(44-61μm)pre-roasted firstly react with sodium hydroxide solution(60g/L)with a solid/liquid ratio of1:5at140°C for120min,the extraction of silicon can reach89.89%,and the other valuable elements of magnesium,iron and nickel are accumulated in the solid residues.The leaching kinetics of nickel laterite ore can be described successfully by the diffusion through the product layer control model.The activation energy is calculated to be11.63kJ/mol and the kinetics equation can be expressed as1-3(1-x)2/3+2(1-x)=13.53×10-2exp[-11.63/(RT)]t.

Technological conditions and kinetics of leaching copper from complex copper oxide ore

The kinetic behavior of leaching copper from low grade copper oxide ore was investigated. The effects of leaching temperature, H2SO4 concentration, particle size of crude ore and agitation rate on the leaching efficiency of copper were also evaluated. And the kinetic equations of the leaching process were obtained. The results show that the leaching process can be described with a reaction model of shrinking core. The reaction can be divided into three stages. The first stage is the dissolution of free copper oxide and copper oxide wrapped by hematite-limonite ore. At this stage, the leaching efficiency is very fast （leaching efficiency is larger than 60%）. The second stage is the leaching of diffiuent copper oxides, whose apparent activation energy is 43.26 kJ/mol. During this process, the chemical reaction is the control step, and the reaction order of H2SO4 is 0.433 84. The third stage is the leaching of copper oxide wrapped by hematite-limonite and silicate ore with apparent activation energy of 16.08 kJ/mol, which belongs to the mixed control.