Leaching of a Roasted Copper Sulfide Ore

Arniel Vhien A. Lisondra

METE 157: HYDROMETALLURGY LABORATORY

ABSTRACT
In dilute sulphuric acid leaching solutions, copper sulphide ores are insoluble but a very high extraction
can be obtained if the copper ore is in the oxidized condition. To convert the sulphide into the oxide form is the
problem. The sulphide ore should be given an oxidizing-sulphatizing roast. Copper sulphate is soluble in water,so
acid will be saved in the leaching process if copper sulphate is present. From assays of the pregnant liquor
the percentage extractions of the copper present in the calcine were calculated. The copper present in the roasted
calcines were also determined to examine the efficiency of leaching in extracting the copper.

INTRODUCTION OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

In the last three decades, the economic
conditions and the increasingly stringent
environmental legislation worldwide have led
metallurgical industry more difficult to develop. In
addition, copper resources become increasingly
depleted and the number of low-grade refractory
copper ore grows day after day. Therefore, more
attention must be paid to develop a low-cost,
environment-friendly and high economic benefits
process of recovering copper from ore. The extraction
of copper from ore has commonly been performed
using mainly pyrometallurgical, hydrometallurgical
and bio- chemical, and metallurgy equipment always
suffered serious erosion, leading to high production
cost. Biochemical processes are mostly popular in
processing the low-grade tailings or abandoned ore.
While the use of this process is restricted by the strict
growth environment such as temperature, pH, oxygen
concentrate and light condition of microorganism and
the long leaching period. However,
hydrometallurgical process does not have the
problems mentioned before. Therefore,
hydrometallurgical process becomes the most viable
and promising approach to treat copper sulfide ore in
metallurgy fields. In hydrometallurgical process, the
most widely used pretreatment process is roasting
before leaching.
The experiment aims to study the various
extent of leaching the roasted copper ore and apply
cementation and titration method in the
resulting pregnant solution.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Copper ore comprises two most common
kinds of ore namely copper oxide and copper sulfide
which undergo two different processes,
hydrometallurgy and pyrometallurgy, respectively. As
copper sulfide was mainly processed using
pyrometallurgical methods, it requires a more
selective process of extraction since it contains a
higher concentration of copper. Leaching process of
the sulphide ore is designed and engineered for safe
operation and minimal environmental impact. The
benefits of atmospheric leaching of copper ore are the
recovery of copper without concentration, avoiding
loss of copper in tailings, processing low-grade
copper minerals, handling difficult impurities and
utilizing existing technologies in downstream
processing.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Materials and Equipment:

In the present work, a roasting-acid leaching hot plate

process that associated pyrometallurgical and electric muffle furnace
hydrometallurgical methods has been used for the weighing balance
recovery of copper from a copper sulfide concentrate. oven
The reactions investigated show an enhanced stirring rod
recovery of copper from its concentrate into a spatula
leachate which is almost devoid of iron. Suitable 1000 ml beaker
roasting temperatures, roasting time and a proper 500 ml Erlenmeyer flask
amount of addition have been explored in this study. filter paper
filter funnel
aluminum scrap
nitric acid
sodium carbonate
hydrochloric acid
5 % barium chloride
sulfuric acid
phenolphthalein
sodium hydroxide.
Determination of Sulfur
1 gram of the sample was placed in a 400 ml
beaker; simultaneously 40 ml of nitric acid was
added with the sample. Heating was done until 5 ml
of it was left. After heating, a pinch of sodium
carbonate was added to dry and evaporate any liquid
left. 20-30 ml of hydrochloric acid was then added to
dissolve the dried solution. After the dissolution, the
solution was brought to boiling point, as 50 ml of 5%
barium chloride was simultaneously added. After
that, stirring of the heated sample was done
thoroughly. Particles that did not dissolve were then
filtered using filter paper and were dried at the oven.
After drying, the residue was weighed, and the
percentage of sulfur was attained.
Copper Determination
30 ml aliquot of the previously leached
pregnant solution was used for titration. Titration was
done with standardized KCN solution after iron has
been removed by precipitation with NH 4 OH as
iron hydroxide and by filtration using filter paper. To
determine that the titration was done, the end point of
this part was expected to have a clear solution at the
end point.
Cementation
The aluminum strip, 4 pieces of it
approximately weighing 2 grams was added to the
beaker with the 300 ml pregnant solution. Heating of
the solution was required near to boiling as well as
frequently stirring it. The precipitation of copper was
then observed for a moment, cemented copper started
to adhere to the surface of the strip. The cemented
copper was scraped and washed through the filter
paper and the remaining solution was also filtered
and dried in the oven.

Figure 1. Process flowchart:

Roasting

60 grams of roasted ore was needed to Sample

Roasting Cementation
perform the experimentation. The acquired ore is Preparation
Copper sulfide in nature with a -325 mesh passing
that was provided by the laboratory instructor. In
roasting temperature of 900 the sample was
Data
roasted for an hour. The process was done at different Leaching Gathering
times due to the availability of the furnace and the
and Analysis
crucibles volume it can handle.

Leaching RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The roasted 4 samples of copper sulfide ore Table 1. Leaching process general data
each weighing 60+ grams was added into the sulfuric Sample H2SO4 Leaching Initial Final
acid solution, which is the lixiviant for the leaching Conc. Time pH pH
process in this experiment. Each 60 grams roasted (%) (min)
copper ore sample was leached at varying sulfuric 1 4 60 0.9 1.2
acid concentration 4%, 6%, 10%, 2% and was 2 6 45 0.6 0.9
3 10 30 0.4 0.7
leached at 45, 60 30, 90, minutes respectively. The
4 2 90 1.4 1.9
initial pH and final pH was shown in Table 1.
 It is observed throughout the leaching pregnant solution with sodium hydroxide was done to
process, the pH increased, as well as the other remove the iron from the pregnant solution since it
groups samples. Also note that the higher the would hinder the titration process making the iron to
react with NaCN.
concentration, the lower the leaching time needed.
Table 5. Data obtained on volumetric titration of
Table 2. Cementation data
KCN.
Sample WAl strips Wcement Cu WCu Loss
with Cu Sample No. Amount of Cu %Copper
No. (g) (g)
(g) in Pregnant
Solution (g)
1 2.081 1.802 1.151
1 0.93 1.56
2 2.014 1.686 0.044
2 1.73 2.87
3 2.006 1.061 1.022
3 2.083 3.47
4 3.403 1.560 1.340
4 0.22 0.36
The weight of cemented Cu was the copper
The amount of Cu in pregnant solution
extracted through the cementation process. The
indicates significant %Cu.
copper loss was the difference between the amounts
of copper in the pregnant solution and the extracted
Calculations
mass of copper via cementation. As observed in the
table above there is a fluctuating trend in the data
Sulfur Determination
obtained.
weight of BaSO 4
%S= 100
weight of Sample BaSO 4
Table 3. Sulfur determination
Sample Wore WBaSO4 %Sulfur
No. (g) (g) 233.32 g
1.020 g
4 1.020 2.161 29.06 mol
BaSO 4
32 g = 27.51 %
All the determined data above was acquired
through gravimetric method with barium sulfate. And

2.161 g ( )
mol
100
it showed that with 1.020g of ore and 2.161g of
BaSO4, 29.06% Sulfur is obtained.
Copper Determination
Table 4. Titration data of pregnant solution
Sample VNaOH VNaCN Phenolphtalei 1molCN
CN
No. (ml) (ml) n MCN 1.88 26 gCN
drops 1L
1 70 12.10 12
2 38 22.36 14 MNaCN 0.0724
3 111 27 28
4 80 2.81 8 molNaCN 2.81 103 0.0724

M molNaCN 2.03 104 mol

From the data above, it was noted that with
decreasing leaching time and increasing H 2SO4
concentration, endpoint of titration was As of stoichiometry:
instantaneously reached. This signifies that the
molCuCN 2.03 104 mol
oxygen in copper oxide has reacted to the hydrogen
ion to form water, this results to decreasing unreacted
hydrogen ion that causes the pH solution increase. Copper in aliquot:
The volume of the NaCN used will be used later for 64
the calculation of copper. Since iron is more Cu
2.03 104 mol ( ) 0.013 g
electronegative than copper, the pretreatment of the
1
 to be caused by the effect of the leaching time. Since
Copper in pregnant solution: copper sulfates decomposition temperature was
600C, it was expected to diminish at 900C. By
Cu
0.11 ( 500
30 )
=0.22 g roasting at this temperature, a maximum amount of
copper oxide and of copper sulfate is produced and a
minimum amount of soluble iron should be obtained
since the decomposition temperature of ferrous
Copper content: sulfate was only 590C.

%Cu
100 ( 1.73
60 )
=0.36
REFERENCES

1. Metallurgy of Copper. Retrieved on March

20, 2015
CONCLUSION fromhttps://archive.org/stream/metallurgyof
copp030250mbp/metallurgyofcopp030250m
Copper ore samples of the 4 groups were bp_dj vu.txt
roasted at varying leaching time and concentration.
Samples 1, 2, 3, and 4 were roasted and titrated and 2. Copper - Element information, properties
determined to have, 31.27%, 26.89%, 27.51%, and and uses | Periodic Table. (n.d.). Retrieved
27.51% Sulfur respectively as well as their %Copper April 25, 2017, from
which were 1.56%, 2.87%, 3.45%, and 0.365% http://www.rsc.org/periodic-
respectively. Samples roasted at lower leaching times table/element/29/copper
and high concentration tends to have a slightly higher
%Cu recovery. Copper extraction was also 3. Tumen, F. and Bailey, N.T. (1990) Recovery
determined to be effective at high sulfuric acid of Metals from Copper Smelter Slags by
concentrations yet accompanying with fluctuating Roasting with Pyrite. Hydrometallurgy, 25,
copper loss at the cementation which was suspected 317-328.