Study on hydrometallurgical recovery of copper and rhenium in processing of substandard copper concentrates

Over the past decade, there has been a steady growth in demand for rare metals, with rhenium being one of the most highly demanded, but also one of the most expensive and difficult to obtain. The high demand for rhenium is due to its use as a key component of metallurgical alloys or as a component of catalysts used in the oil refining industry. The aggregate of facts causes profitability of processing of the rhenium-containing mineral resources, which also are the copper substandard concentrates obtained at processing of the Zhezkazgan sandstones. The study focuses on the processes of extraction of copper and sorption recovery of rhenium from solutions of ammonia leaching of copper substandard concentrates. Model solutions similar in the elemental composition to solutions of ammonia leaching solutions of copper substandard concentrates obtained during the processing of Zhezkazgan sandstones were used as an object of the study. The paper estimates extraction characteristics of copper recovery using LIX 84-I solution in kerosene, as well as sorption characteristics of the rhenium recovery process using the Purolite PPA100 anion exchanger. Based on the obtained characteristics the possibility of hydrometallurgical processing of ammonia leaching solutions of substandard copper-sulfide concentrates, and recovery of the obtained commercial products is shown.

Study on Adding Ammonium Hydrogen Fluoride to Improve Manganese Leaching Efficiency of Ammonia Leaching Low-Grade Rhodochrosite

The ammonia leaching method for treating low-grade rhodochrosite has the advantages of a good impurity removal effect and low environmental pollution. In this paper, aiming at the low leaching efficiency of low-grade rhodochrosite treated by the ammonia leaching method, studies on enhancing the leaching efficiency of manganese by using ammonium hydrogen fluoride as an additive are carried out. The effects of different ammonia concentrations, leaching temperatures, leaching times, liquid-solid ratios, stirring rates, and the addition of ammonium hydrogen fluoride on the leaching efficiency of manganese with and without ammonium hydrogen fluoride as an additive were comparatively studied, and the parameters of ammonia concentration, ammonia leaching temperature, and ammonium hydrogen fluoride dosage were optimized in the experimental study. The results indicated that ammonium hydrogen fluoride as an additive in the treatment of low-grade rhodochrosite by the ammonia leaching method could effectively increase the leaching efficiency of manganese, and the optimal process parameters were obtained. Meanwhile, the addition of ammonium hydrogen fluoride didn’t affect the quality of the steamed ammonia product.

Preparation of Zinc Oxide and Zinc Ferrite from Zinc Hypoxide by Wet Process and Electrochemistry

With the increase of zinc resource consumption, the recovery and utilization of zinc resources in zinc suboxide has become one of the current research hotspots. In this study, the electrochemical method was used to remove the impurities in the zinc leaching night and enrich the zinc ferrite in the ammonia leaching residue for the solution and ammonia leaching slag after the ammonia leaching of zinc hypoxide, in order to realize the comprehensive utilization of the essence of zinc immersion night and new resources. The results showed that the reduction potentials of copper, lead, cadmium, and zinc in the ammonia leaching solution were analyzed by electrochemical testing methods to be −0.76 V, −0.82 V, −0.94 V, and −1.3 V, respectively. Through constant potential electrodeposition, the removal rate of copper, lead, cadmium. The removal rate of cadmium is 98.73%, and the removal rate of lead and copper is more than 99%. The purified ammonia leaching solution is evaporated at 90 °C for 25 min to obtain basic zinc carbonate. The purity of ZnO obtained after calcination at 500 °C for 120 min is 96.31%. The ammonia leaching residue was pickled with 3 mol·L−1 acetic acid for 30 min to effectively remove PbCO3, and then magnetic separation was carried out with a current intensity of 1.4 A. The final zinc ferrite content was 83.83%.