Copper and nickel recovery from acidic polymetallic aqueous solutions

Giannopoulou, I; Panias, D

dc.contributor.author	Giannopoulou, I	en
dc.contributor.author	Panias, D	en
dc.date.accessioned	2014-03-01T01:26:03Z
dc.date.available	2014-03-01T01:26:03Z
dc.date.issued	2007	en
dc.identifier.issn	0892-6875	en
dc.identifier.uri	https://dspace.lib.ntua.gr/xmlui/handle/123456789/17904
dc.subject	Copper recovery	en
dc.subject	Electrochemistry	en
dc.subject	Neutralization	en
dc.subject	Nickel recovery	en
dc.subject	Polymetallic wastewater	en
dc.subject	Thermodynamic modeling	en
dc.subject.classification	Engineering, Chemical	en
dc.subject.classification	Mineralogy	en
dc.subject.classification	Mining & Mineral Processing	en
dc.subject.other	Copper metallography	en
dc.subject.other	Electrochemistry	en
dc.subject.other	Environmental impact	en
dc.subject.other	Inorganic acids	en
dc.subject.other	Solid wastes	en
dc.subject.other	Solutions	en
dc.subject.other	Wastewater	en
dc.subject.other	Copper recovery	en
dc.subject.other	Nickel recovery	en
dc.subject.other	Polymetallic wastewater	en
dc.subject.other	Thermodynamic modeling	en
dc.subject.other	Intermetallics	en
dc.title	Copper and nickel recovery from acidic polymetallic aqueous solutions	en
heal.type	journalArticle	en
heal.identifier.primary	10.1016/j.mineng.2007.02.009	en
heal.identifier.secondary	http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mineng.2007.02.009	en
heal.language	English	en
heal.publicationDate	2007	en
heal.abstract	Acidic polymetallic wastewaters are generated during the pyrometallurgical treatment of chalcopyrite for the production of primary copper. The most important wastewater streams originate from the copper refining and the electrolyte regeneration stages, as well as the sulphuric acid and the precious metals plants. These wastewaters are characterized by medium to high concentration of residual sulphuric acid and heavy metals such Cu, Ni, Pb, Zn, Fe, As, Sb, Bi, etc. Taking into account that the outflows of these industrial streams are usually high, a large amount of valuable metals such as copper and nickel are potentially lost. Thus, it is of great importance to treat properly the wastewaters so that the contained valuable metals to be recovered. This paper is dealing with the treatment of synthetic solutions simulating industrial wastewaters from the copper pyrometallurgical plant in Bor, Serbia. The basic concept includes copper electrorecovery followed by nickel precipitation through neutralization. The feasibility of this treatment was proved theoretically with the thermodynamic analysis of electrochemical and precipitation reactions in this system, as well as experimentally under various conditions. The main conclusion is that copper can be recovered electrolytically followed by bismuth and the two metalloids arsenic and antimony that exhibits almost the same electronegativity with copper. The other high electropositive metals Ni, Pb, Zn, Fe remain, as it was expected, in the solution from which nickel can be recovered with neutralization, contaminated with Cu, Fe, Zn and traces of bismuth, arsenic and antimony. The proposed treatment technology has innovative character because it can mitigate environmental impacts and eliminate solid waste generation while at the same time can recover valuable metals. (c) 2007 Published by Elsevier Ltd.	en
heal.publisher	PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD	en
heal.journalName	Minerals Engineering	en
dc.identifier.doi	10.1016/j.mineng.2007.02.009	en
dc.identifier.isi	ISI:000248132500003	en
dc.identifier.volume	20	en
dc.identifier.issue	8	en
dc.identifier.spage	753	en
dc.identifier.epage	760	en