Electrowinning copper

Copper. Copper is economically extracted by smelting of a chalcopyrite concentrate. A copper electrowinning process was developed commercially in 1912 for the treatment of lean ores. It is also suitable for treatment of copper oxide or sulfate obtained by roasting of the concentrate. 

ELECTROCHEMICAL DETERMINATION OF GUAR IN COPPER ELECTROWINING PROCESS... 

The sulfuric acid needed to solubilize copper from chalcocite is balanced by the acid recovered from the copper electrowinning step this acid is recycled to the heaps. The overall acid requirements for the process are, therefore, dependent on the acid consumption by the gangue minerals in the ore and the acid production by pyrite oxidation. If the pyrite associated with the ore is significant and the acid consumption by the ore is low, excess sulfuric acid can be neutralized by lime. 

The filtrate from the jarosite process is now ready for copper electrowinning. In this step, copper is extracted from the sulfate electrolyte down to a concentration of 500 ppm. While leaving the nickel, tin, chrcme, cadmium and zinc in solution. Each batch produces 679 lb6 of cathode copper of 99% purity. 

ELTECH System Corporation has developed and patented a mesh-on-lead (MOL) anode for primary copper electrowinning operations. The MOL anodes have performance advantages relative to standard Pb-Ca-Sn anodes, including lower oxygen evolution overpotential, improved cathode quality, and minimized lead sludge generation. The addition of cobalt is eliminated because of stabilized lead substrate, and current efficiency is improved because of reduced short circuits [16],... 

The most important copper electrowinning production method is heap leaching of oxide copper ores with recovery by solvent extraction and electrowinning (SX-EW process). The general flowsheet of an SX-EW process is shown in Fig. 18. It is a low-cost method of copper recovery. This technology has recently been applied successfully to mixed oxide and chalcocite ores, notably in Chile. Currently, there are significant development efforts underway to try to extend heap leaching to chalcopy-rite ores. 

The copper electrowinning process requires concentrated solutions to improve mass transport and increase the solution conductivity. The pregnant leach solutions from leaching are too dilute and too impure for the direct production of high-purity cathodes. Electrowinning from these solutions would give impure, dendritic deposits. Solvent extraction provides the means for producing pure,... 

T. Robinson, J. Jenkins, S. Rasmussen et al., Copper electrowinning - 2003 world tank-house operating data, Copper 2003 - Cobre 2003, Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum, Santiago, Chile, 2003, pp. 421-472. 

V. Jiricny, A. Roy and J. W. Evans, Copper Electrowinning Using Spouted Bed Electrodes Part I. Experiments with Oxygen Evolution or Matte Oxidation at the Anode, Metall. Mater. Trans., B 33, 669-676 (2002). 

Figure 4.5 Layout of copper electrowinning cell house.

B.K. Loveday, R.A. Lynn and J.P. Martin, Research at the National Institute for Metallurgy on the Engineering Aspects of Copper Electrowinning, 1975, S. Africa National Institute for Metallurgy, NIM Report No. 1693. 

The first zinc and copper electrowinning plants operating at the beginning of the century did not use acid mist suppression methods. No foams were used and operators would typically have to wear clothes and cloth over the face to protect them from the mist [1]. 

T. Robinson et al., Electrolytic Copper Electrowinning - 2007 World Tankhouse Operating Data. Copper-Cobre 2007, Vol. V, eds. G. E. Houlachi, J. D. Edwards, and T. G. Robinson, (Montreal, Canada Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Petroleum, 2007), 375-424. 

S. Sandoval et al., Demonstration of the Ferrous/Ferric Anode Reaction for Copper Electrowinning, Proceedings of the 7 International Copper-Cobre Conference 2010 Volume 4 Electrowinning and -refining (Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany GDMB, 2010), 1617-1633. 

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