Hydrometallurgical application for treating a Nigerian chalcopyrite ore in chloride medium: Part I. Dissolution kinetics assessment
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Date
2013
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Publisher
Springer
Abstract
The dissolution kinetics of a Nigerian chalcopyrite ore in hydrochloric acid was studied in this article. Acid concentration, reaction temperature, and ore particle size were chosen as experimental parameters. The chemical and morphological studies of the ore before and after leaching at optimal conditions were carried out by X-ray di®raction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It is revealed that increasing the acid concentration and system temperature and decreasing the ore particle size greatly enhances the dissolution rate. The dissolution kinetics was found to follow the shrinking core model for the di®usion control mechanism where the activation energy (Ea) of 32.92 kJ¢mol¡1 was obtained for the process and supported by morphological changes at a higher dissolution of 91.33%.
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Keywords
chalcopyrite; hydrometallurgy; leaching, hydrochloric acid; dissolution; ore treatment