Kinetics Investigation of Chalcopyrite Dissolution in the Presence of Acidic Ionic Liquid

Today, the adoption of green technologies and sustainable development has dragged more attention in the metallurgical industry. Accordingly, in this study, the leaching kinetics of chalcopyrite (CuFeS2) concentrate using 1-Butyl-3-methylimidazolium hydrogen sulfate (BmimHSO4) as an acidic ionic liquid was investigated. Effects of operational parameters including temperature, BmimHSO4 concentration, H2O2 concentration, solid-to-liquid ratio and particle size on the rate of copper dissolution from CuFeS2 were systematically examined. The results showed that the concentration of hydrogen peroxide and temperature had the greatest and the least effect on the dissolution of chalcopyrite, respectively. Also, the highest Cu extraction (ca. 97%) in this work was achieved using 40% BmimHSO4, 30% H2O2, and 10 g/L solid to liquid ratio for particle sizes less than 37 µm and 45 °C for leaching time of 180 min. Kinetics study using Shrinking Core Model (SCM) revealed that CuFeS2 leaching process using BmimHSO4 follows the chemical reaction-controlled process. In addition, the orders of reaction with respect to BmimHSO4 and H2O2 concentration, solid to liquid ratio, particle size were estimated to be 0.5386, 0.933, -0.676 and -1.1078, respectively. Under these circumstances, the activation energy and Arrhenius constant were 46.63 kJ/mol and 0.2596×106, respectively.