Copper leaching from chalcopyrite concentrate by sodium nitrate in sulphuric acid solution – chemometric approach

Abstract

Hydrometallurgical processing of the copper concentrates is a promising alternative to the conventional pyrometallurgical production of copper due to significantly lower environmental impact, capital and operational costs. Development of the hydrometallurgical process for copper recovery from mineral concentrate requires extensive work in testing and optimization of operational parameters from laboratory to semi-industrial scale. Mathematical modelling of the copper leaching process can save human labour and time. Leaching of copper from chalcopyrite concentrate using sulphuric acid and sodium nitrate as an oxidant was tested, and the influence of temperature, particle size, stirring speed and concentrations of sulphuric acid and sodium nitrate were evaluated. Obtained results showed that increasing temperature and concentrations of sulphuric acid and sodium nitrate increase the leaching degree of copper, while increasing particle size and stirring speed reduce copper extraction. In this paper, second-order polynomial models (SOP) were applied to experimental data. Presented results show that mathematical models fit experimental data. The conclusion is that SOP models are a promising tool to be used for modelling leaching processes of metals.