Copper Recovery and Reduction of Environmental Loading from Mine Tailings by High-Pressure Leaching and SX-EW Process
The flotation tailings obtained from Bor Copper Mine contain pyrite (FeS<sub>2</sub>) and chalcopyrite (CuFeS<sub>2</sub>), these sulfide minerals are known to promote acid mine drainage (AMD) which poses a serious threat to the environment and human health. This study focuse...
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MDPI AG
2021-08-01
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| author | Labone L. Godirilwe Kazutoshi Haga Batnasan Altansukh Yasushi Takasaki Daizo Ishiyama Vanja Trifunovic Ljiljana Avramovic Radojka Jonovic Zoran Stevanovic Atsushi Shibayama |
| author_facet | Labone L. Godirilwe Kazutoshi Haga Batnasan Altansukh Yasushi Takasaki Daizo Ishiyama Vanja Trifunovic Ljiljana Avramovic Radojka Jonovic Zoran Stevanovic Atsushi Shibayama |
| author_sort | Labone L. Godirilwe |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The flotation tailings obtained from Bor Copper Mine contain pyrite (FeS<sub>2</sub>) and chalcopyrite (CuFeS<sub>2</sub>), these sulfide minerals are known to promote acid mine drainage (AMD) which poses a serious threat to the environment and human health. This study focuses on the treatment of mine tailings to convert the AMD supporting minerals to more stable forms, while simultaneously valorizing the mine tailings. A combination of hydrometallurgical processes of high-pressure oxidative leaching (HPOL), solvent extraction (SX), and electrowinning (EW) were utilized to recover copper from mine tailings which contain about 0.3% Cu content. The HPOL process yielded a high copper leaching rate of 94.4% when water was used as a leaching medium. The copper leaching kinetics were promoted by the generation of sulfuric acid due to pyrite oxidation. It was also confirmed that a low iron concentration (1.4 g/L) and a high copper concentration (44.8 g/L) obtained in the stripped solution resulted in an improved copper electrodeposition current efficiency during copper electrowinning. Moreover, pyrite, which is primarily in the mine tailings, was converted into hematite after HPOL. A stability evaluation of the solid residue confirmed almost no elution of metal ions, confirming the reduced environmental loading of mine tailings through re-processing. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T07:26:47Z |
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| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T07:26:47Z |
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| series | Metals |
| spelling | doaj.art-2bf198665ef442a381277d9fbad972c52023-11-22T14:12:21ZengMDPI AGMetals2075-47012021-08-01119133510.3390/met11091335Copper Recovery and Reduction of Environmental Loading from Mine Tailings by High-Pressure Leaching and SX-EW ProcessLabone L. Godirilwe0Kazutoshi Haga1Batnasan Altansukh2Yasushi Takasaki3Daizo Ishiyama4Vanja Trifunovic5Ljiljana Avramovic6Radojka Jonovic7Zoran Stevanovic8Atsushi Shibayama9Department of Earth Resource Engineering and Environmental Science, Akita University, Akita 010-0865, JapanDepartment of Earth Resource Engineering and Environmental Science, Akita University, Akita 010-0865, JapanDepartment of Earth Resource Engineering and Environmental Science, Akita University, Akita 010-0865, JapanDepartment of Earth Resource Engineering and Environmental Science, Akita University, Akita 010-0865, JapanDepartment of Earth Resource Engineering and Environmental Science, Akita University, Akita 010-0865, JapanMining and Metallurgy Institute Bor, 19210 Bor, SerbiaMining and Metallurgy Institute Bor, 19210 Bor, SerbiaMining and Metallurgy Institute Bor, 19210 Bor, SerbiaMining and Metallurgy Institute Bor, 19210 Bor, SerbiaDepartment of Earth Resource Engineering and Environmental Science, Akita University, Akita 010-0865, JapanThe flotation tailings obtained from Bor Copper Mine contain pyrite (FeS<sub>2</sub>) and chalcopyrite (CuFeS<sub>2</sub>), these sulfide minerals are known to promote acid mine drainage (AMD) which poses a serious threat to the environment and human health. This study focuses on the treatment of mine tailings to convert the AMD supporting minerals to more stable forms, while simultaneously valorizing the mine tailings. A combination of hydrometallurgical processes of high-pressure oxidative leaching (HPOL), solvent extraction (SX), and electrowinning (EW) were utilized to recover copper from mine tailings which contain about 0.3% Cu content. The HPOL process yielded a high copper leaching rate of 94.4% when water was used as a leaching medium. The copper leaching kinetics were promoted by the generation of sulfuric acid due to pyrite oxidation. It was also confirmed that a low iron concentration (1.4 g/L) and a high copper concentration (44.8 g/L) obtained in the stripped solution resulted in an improved copper electrodeposition current efficiency during copper electrowinning. Moreover, pyrite, which is primarily in the mine tailings, was converted into hematite after HPOL. A stability evaluation of the solid residue confirmed almost no elution of metal ions, confirming the reduced environmental loading of mine tailings through re-processing.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4701/11/9/1335tailings valorizationhigh-pressure leachingcopper recoveryacid mine drainagemetal elution |
| spellingShingle | Labone L. Godirilwe Kazutoshi Haga Batnasan Altansukh Yasushi Takasaki Daizo Ishiyama Vanja Trifunovic Ljiljana Avramovic Radojka Jonovic Zoran Stevanovic Atsushi Shibayama Copper Recovery and Reduction of Environmental Loading from Mine Tailings by High-Pressure Leaching and SX-EW Process Metals tailings valorization high-pressure leaching copper recovery acid mine drainage metal elution |
| title | Copper Recovery and Reduction of Environmental Loading from Mine Tailings by High-Pressure Leaching and SX-EW Process |
| title_full | Copper Recovery and Reduction of Environmental Loading from Mine Tailings by High-Pressure Leaching and SX-EW Process |
| title_fullStr | Copper Recovery and Reduction of Environmental Loading from Mine Tailings by High-Pressure Leaching and SX-EW Process |
| title_full_unstemmed | Copper Recovery and Reduction of Environmental Loading from Mine Tailings by High-Pressure Leaching and SX-EW Process |
| title_short | Copper Recovery and Reduction of Environmental Loading from Mine Tailings by High-Pressure Leaching and SX-EW Process |
| title_sort | copper recovery and reduction of environmental loading from mine tailings by high pressure leaching and sx ew process |
| topic | tailings valorization high-pressure leaching copper recovery acid mine drainage metal elution |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4701/11/9/1335 |
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