RT Journal Article
T1 Arsenic removal procedure for the electrolyte from a hydro-pyrometallurgical complex
A1 Paz Gómez, Daniela Carolina
A1 Pérez Moreno, Silvia María
A1 Gázquez González, Manuel Jesús
A1 Guerrero Márquez, José Luis
A1 Ruiz Oria, I.
A1 Ríos Ransanz, Guillermo
A1 Bolívar Raya, Juan Pedro
AB Commercial copper (Cu) is obtained by a hydro-pyrometallurgical process, where the Cu anodes obtained in the furnaces (Cu > 99.5%) are enriched up to 99.99% in “cathodes” by electrorefining at an electrolysis plant. During this process, some impurities accumulate in the electrolyte, mainly arsenic (As), which decrease the quality of the Cu cathode. For this reason, the electrolyte is sent to an electrolyte cleaning plant (ECP) for its purification. Electrolyte sludge (ES) is produced in the last stage of purification and is recirculated back to the furnace due to the high Cu content. This recirculation involves a severe problem of As accumulation in the industrial process. The objective of this work was to develop a procedure to fully dissolve the ES, removing the As and recovering its Cu content. The ES dissolution process was optimised (dissolution efficiency > 99%) in H2SO4 (1.4 M)/HNO3 (1.8 M) medium using a 1:20 g mL-1 solid-to-liquid ratio. As was removed from the ES solution by its precipitation as iron (III) arsenate, with high efficiency (more than 70%). After As removal, the Cu can be precipitated as copper sulphate, which is used in several applications.
PB Elsevier
SN 0045-6535
YR 2021
FD 2021
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10272/19985
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10272/19985
LA eng
NO Paz-Gómez, D. C., Pérez-Moreno, S. M., Gázquez, M. J., Guerrero, J. L., Ruiz-Oria, I., Ríos, G., & Bolívar, J. P. (2021). Arsenic removal procedure for the electrolyte from a hydro-pyrometallurgical complex. Chemosphere, 281, 130651. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.130651
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 31 may 2026