Patent Application: US-52853203-A

Abstract:
leaching of copper from minerals containing sulfur and copper is hampered by the formation of sulfur on the surface of the mineral during conventional processing . an improved method for extracting copper from a sulfur - containing copper mineral is provided , comprising adding a lixiviant and a silica - containing or titanium - containing compound to a sulfur - containing copper mineral .

Description:
the invention may be further understood by reference to the following non - limiting examples . in general , chalcopyrite was mixed with lixiviant and other additives and conditioned for specific time . after a specific conditioning time , the soluble copper was removed from the slurry by filtration . after filtration , the filtrate was analyzed for copper using atomic absorption spectroscopic technique . as discussed , the formation of a passive sulfur layer decreases the dissolution of copper from chalcopyrite significantly when leaching is conducted in acidic ph . in order to test that and to get baseline data , chalcopyrite leaching experiments were conducted using ferric as a lixiviant in the absence and presence of different salts . experimental results are given in table 1 . experiments were conducted in a manner similar to that described in example i . in this case some strong oxidants were used to destroy the sulfur which would increase the dissolution of copper from chalcopyrite . these experiments show that a high concentration of oxidants is required to destroy the sulfur layer and thereby enhance the copper dissolution . the effect of nanosize silica on copper dissolution is given in table 3 . by increasing the nanosize silica concentration from 5 gm / liter to 10 gm / liter , it is seen that the copper dissolution increases from 12 % to 62 %. in this investigation selected silica compounds were tested to see if they could be used to increase copper leaching without strong oxidants . in all of the above tests it has been shown that addition of silica compounds during chalcopyrite leaching can enhance the copper dissolution . the effect of particle size on copper leaching from chalcopyrite is shown in table 5 . it can be seen that by decreasing particle size , an increase in copper dissolution from chalcopyrite is noticed . for example , under similar experimental conditions , copper dissolution increased from 50 % to 65 % within 24 hours by decreasing particle size from 50 mesh to 400 mesh . the effect of h 2 o 2 and ethylene glycol on dissolution of copper in the presence of nanosilica was evaluated . h 2 o 2 and ethylene glycol are very effective in copper dissolution from chalcopyrite . the combination of hydrogen peroxide , ethylene glycol , and nanosilica is presently preferable . in another series of experiments , the photo - catalyzed nature of silica in enhancing copper dissolution from chalcopyrite was monitored . in this case nanosize silica compounds were added to the chalcopyrite slurry at ph 1 . 5 in the presence and absence of light . in addition , the effect of ultraviolet light on leaching was determined . in another series of experiments the effect of ultraviolet light on the dissolution of copper in the presence of ferric chloride was investigated . it was observed that ultraviolet light has significant influence on copper dissolution . nyacol is colloidal nanosize silica dispersed in glycol medium . temperature has a profound effect on the dissolution of copper from chalcopyrite . as can be seen , by increasing temperature from 25 ° c . to 75 ° c ., copper extraction increased from 2 % to 50 %. the effect of ferric chloride along with nanosize silica and the effect of nanosize tio 2 on the dissolution of copper are given in table 10 . as can be seen , nanosize silica in conjunction with ferric chloride can enhance copper dissolution . it was observed that nanosize tio 2 can also increase the dissolution of copper in the presence of hydrogen peroxide . although the description above contains many specificities , these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the invention , but as merely providing examples of some of the preferred embodiments . for example , minerals other than chalcopyrite may be used . also , lixiviants other than those specifically exemplified may be used . conditions other than those specifically exemplified may be used , as known in the art without undue experimentation . all references cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference to the extent not inconsistent with the disclosure herewith . 1 . antonijevic , m . m ., jankovic , z . and m . dimitrijevic , “ investigations of the kinetics of chalcopyrite oxidation by potassium dichromate ,” hydrometallurgy , 35 , pp . 187 - 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