| The acid/chloride direct leaching of copper matte was experimentally studied for the optimization of the Korea Zinc copper recovery process. In leaching, the effects of key operational parameters such as particle size distribution, concentrations of chloride, sulfuric acid, and ferric ions, and leaching time were studied. The rate of copper dissolution in acid and ferric ions was found to be dependent upon both the leaching temperature and particle size distribution of Cu-matte. The copper recovery rate increased with the decrease in particle size, whereas it increases parabolically with the increase in the leaching temperature from 60 to 90℃. The activation energy of the copper leaching reaction was found to be 12.1 ㎉/mole. In the electrowinning of copper from the filtrate, the surface morphology of electrowon copper was strongly dependent upon the initial concentration of sulfuric acid. The efficiency was also adversely affected by the increasing concentrations of sulfuric acid, chloride ions, and total iron(Fe^(+2) / Fe^(+3)), within our experimental range. The current efficiency decreased with the concentrations of both chloride and total iron. The optimum concentration of sulfuric acid seemed to be 120-140 ｇ/ℓ, while that of total iron was less than 4 ｇ/ℓ. |
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