| The leaching behaviour and mechanism of copper and nickel with sulfuric acid in deep-sea manganese nodules mined from the Clarion-Clipperton`s preferred area with sulfuric acid, were studied. Effects of acid concentration, temperature, reaction time and particle size on the leaching rate of metals were discussed based on the experimental results. Copper extraction is initially almost instantaneous and increases slowly with time. On the other hand, nickel extraction was found to be very dependent on temperature and independent of acid concentration. Copper and 77% of Ni appears to be chemically adsorbed on the surfaces of iron and manganese oxides, not within their lattices. The leaching behavior of copper and nickel could be explained to be controlled by volume reaction model, and the leaching rate of Ni is the second order with respect to the remained in the sample. |
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