Copper sulfuric acid

Nonferrous Metal Production. Nonferrous metal production, which includes the leaching of copper and uranium ores with sulfuric acid, accounts for about 6% of U.S. sulfur consumption and probably about the same in other developed countries. In the case of copper, sulfuric acid is used for the extraction of the metal from deposits, mine dumps, and wastes, in which the copper contents are too low to justify concentration by conventional flotation techniques or the recovery of copper from ores containing copper carbonate and siUcate minerals that caimot be readily treated by flotation (qv) processes. The sulfuric acid required for copper leaching is usually the by-product acid produced by copper smelters (see Metallurgy, extractive Minerals RECOVERY AND PROCESSING). 

Bars of iron are added to the copper/sulfuric acid mixture. Iron is a more active metal than copper. It replaces the copper from the sulfuric acid solution. Copper deposits on the surface of the iron bar where it is easily scraped off. 

Brass and copper-sulfuric acid + 5% cupric sulfata ISO 71 5... 

Nishihara C and Nozoye H 1995 influence of underpotentiai deposition of copper with submonolayer coverage on hydrogen adsorption at the stepped surfaces Pt(955), Pt(322) and Pt(544) in sulfuric acid solution J. Electroanal. Chem. 396 139-42... 

Toney M F, Howard J N, Richer J, Borges G L, Gordon J G, Melroy O R, Yee D and Sorenson L B 1995 Electrochemical deposition of copper on a gold electrode in sulfuric acid Resolution of the interfacial structure Phys. Rev. Lett. 75 4472-5... 

Selenium is found in a few rare minerals such as crooksite and clausthalite. In years past it has been obtained from flue dusts remaining from processing copper sulfide ores, but the anode metal from electrolytic copper refineries now provide the source of most of the world s selenium. Selenium is recovered by roasting the muds with soda or sulfuric acid, or by smelting them with soda and niter. 

Tellurium improves the machinability of copper and stainless steel, and its addition to lead decreases the corrosive action of sulfuric acid on lead and improves its strength and hardness. Tellurium is used as a basic ingredient in blasting caps, and is added to cast iron for chill control. Tellurium is used in ceramics. Bismuth telluride has been used in thermoelectric devices. 

Nickel and Cobalt. Often present with copper in sulfuric acid leach Hquors are nickel [7440-02-0] and cobalt [7440-48-4]. Extraction using an organophosphoric acid such as D2EHPA at a moderate (3 to 4) pH can readily take out the nickel and cobalt together, leaving the copper in the aqueous phase, but the cobalt—nickel separation is more difficult (274). In the case of chloride leach Hquors, separation of cobalt from nickel is inherently simpler because cobalt, unlike nickel, has a strong tendency to form anionic chloro-complexes. Thus cobalt can be separated by amine extractants, provided the chloride content of the aqueous phase is carefully controUed. A successhil example of this approach is the Falcon-bridge process developed in Norway (274). 

The second ceUulosic fiber process to be commercialized was invented by L. H. Despeissis (4) in 1890 and involved the direct dissolution of cotton fiber in ammoniacal copper oxide Uquor. This solvent had been developed by M. E. Schweizer in 1857 (5). The cuprammonium solution of ceUulose was spun into water, with dilute sulfuric acid being used to neutralize the ammonia and precipitate the ceUulose fibers. H. Pauly and co-workers (6) improved on the Despeissis patent, and a German company, Vereinigte Glanstoff Eabriken, was formed to exploit the technology. In 1901, Dr. Thiele at J. P. Bemberg developed an improved stretch-spinning system, the descendants of which survive today. 

Biacetyl is produced by the dehydrogenation of 2,3-butanediol with a copper catalyst (290,291). Prior to the availabiUty of 2,3-butanediol, biacetyl was prepared by the nitrosation of methyl ethyl ketone and the hydrolysis of the resultant oxime. Other commercial routes include passing vinylacetylene into a solution of mercuric sulfate in sulfuric acid and decomposing the insoluble product with dilute hydrochloric acid (292), by the reaction of acetal with formaldehyde (293), by the acid-cataly2ed condensation of 1-hydroxyacetone with formaldehyde (294), and by fermentation of lactic acid bacterium (295—297). Acetoin [513-86-0] (3-hydroxy-2-butanone) is also coproduced in lactic acid fermentation. 

Copper-containing lead alloys undergo less corrosion in sulfuric acid or sulfate solutions than pure lead or other lead alloys. The uniformly dispersed copper particles give rise to local cells in which lead forms the anode and copper forms the cathode. Through this anodic corrosion of the lead, an insoluble film of lead sulfate forms on the surface of the lead, passivating it and preventing further corrosion. The film, if damaged, rapidly reforms. 

Lead—copper alloys are also used as tank linings, tubes for acid mist precipitators, steam heating pipes for sulfuric acid or chromate plating baths, and flashing and sheeting (see Tanks AND pressure vessels). 

The development of selective extractants for copper has made extraction from dilute solutions (1—5 kg/m ) economically feasible. Transfer of the copper by stripping to a more concentrated sulfuric acid solution, ie, 30—40 kg/m for Cu " and 150—170 kg/m for H2SO4, from which the copper is recovered by electrowinning. The simplified reaction,... 

Copper and Copper-Containing Alloys. Either sulfuric or hydrochloric acid may be used effectively to remove the oxide film on copper (qv) or copper-containing alloys. Mixtures of chromic and sulfuric acids not only remove oxides, but also brighten the metal surface. However, health and safety issues related to chromium(VT) make chromic acid less than desirable. 

Qualitative Analysis. Nitric acid may be detected by the classical brown-ring test, the copper-turnings test, the reduction of nitrate to ammonia by active metal or alloy, or the nitrogen precipitation test. Nitrous acid or nitrites interfere with most of these tests, but such interference may be eliminated by acidifying with sulfuric acid, adding ammonium sulfate crystals, and evaporating to alow volume. 

Dialkyl peroxydicarboaates are used primarily as free-radical iaitiators for viayl monomer po1ymeri2ations (18,208). Dialkyl peroxydicarboaate decompositioas are accelerated by certaia metals, coaceatrated sulfuric acid, and amines (44). Violent decompositions can occur with neat or highly concentrated peroxides. As with most peroxides, they Hberate iodine from acidified iodides. In the presence of copper ions and suitable substrates, dialkyl peroxydicarbonates have been used to synthesi2e alkyl carbonates (44) ... 

Plants can also be pests that need to be controlled, particulady noxious weeds infesting food crops. Prior to 1900, inorganic compounds such as sulfuric acid, copper nitrate, sodium nitrate, ammonium sulfate, and potassium salts were used to selectively control mustards and other broadleaved weeds in cereal grains. By the early 1900s, Kainite and calcium cyanamid were also used in monocotyledenous crops, as well as iron sulfate, copper sulfate, and sodium arsenate. Prom 1915 to 1925, acid arsenical sprays, carbon bisulfate, sodium chlorate, and others were introduced for weed control use. Total or nonselective herbicides kill all vegetation, whereas selective compounds control weeds without adversely affecting the growth of the crop (see Herbicides). 

Thermal polymerization is not as effective as catalytic polymerization but has the advantage that it can be used to polymerize saturated materials that caimot be induced to react by catalysts. The process consists of the vapor-phase cracking of, for example, propane and butane, followed by prolonged periods at high temperature (510—595°C) for the reactions to proceed to near completion. Olefins can also be conveniendy polymerized by means of an acid catalyst. Thus, the treated olefin-rich feed stream is contacted with a catalyst, such as sulfuric acid, copper pyrophosphate, or phosphoric acid, at 150—220°C and 1035—8275 kPa (150—1200 psi), depending on feedstock and product requirement. 

There are explosion hazards with phthahc anhydride, both as a dust or vapor in air and as a reactant. Table 11 presents explosion hazards resulting from phthahc anhydride dust or vapor (40,41). Preventative safeguards in handling sohd phthahc anhydride have been reported (15). Water, carbon dioxide, dry chemical, or foam may be used to extinguish the burning anhydride. Mixtures of phthahc anhydride with copper oxide, sodium nitrite, or nitric acid plus sulfuric acid above 80°C explode or react violently (39). 

The chemical production of aminophenols via the reduction of nitrobenzene occurs in two stages. Nitrobenzene [98-95-3] is first selectively reduced with hydrogen in the presence of Raney copper to phenylhydroxylamine in an organic solvent such as 2-propanol (37). With the addition of dilute sulfuric acid, nucleophilic attack by water on the aromatic ring of /V-phenylhydroxylamine [100-65-2] takes place to form 2- and 4-aminophenol. The by-product, 4,4 -diaminodiphenyl ether [13174-32-8] presumably arises in a similar manner from attack on the ring by a molecule of 4-aminophenol (38,39). Aniline [62-53-3] is produced via further reduction (40,41). 

Amino-4-nitropheno1 is produced commercially by the partial reduction of 2,4-dinitrophenol This reduction may be achieved electrolyticaHy using vanadium (159) or chemically with polysulftde, sodium hydrosulftde, or hydrazine and copper (160). Alternatively, 2-acetamidophenol or 2-methylbenzoxazole may be nitrated in sulfuric acid to yield a mixture of 4- and 5-nitro derivatives that are then separated and hydrolyzed with sodium hydroxide (161). 

The compound can be prepared from 2,4,6-trinitrophenol (picric acid [88-89-1]) by reduction with sodium hydrosulfide (163), with ammonia —hydrogen sulfide followed by acetic acid neutralization of the ammonium salt (164), with ethanolic hydrazine and copper (165), or electrolyticaHy with vanadium sulfate in alcoholic sulfuric acid (159). Heating 4,6-dinitro-2-benzamidophenol in concentrated HQ. at 140°C also yields picramic acid (166). 

The discovery of aqua regia by the Arab alchemist Jabir Ibn Hayyan (ad 720—813) provided a new extraction technology. Amalgamation of silver in ores with mercury was extensively used during the late fifteenth century by the Spaniards in Mexico and BoLvia. In 1861 the complex ores of the Comstock Lode, Nevada, were ground together with mercury, salt, copper sulfate, and sulfuric acid, and then steam-heated to recover the silver. 

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