copper and cyanide recovery in cyanidation effluents铜和氰化废水氰化物复苏.pdfVIP

Advances in Chemical Engineering and Science, 2011, 1, 191-197 doi:10.4236/aces.2011.14028 Published Online October 2011 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/aces) Copper and Cyanide Recovery in Cyanidation Effluents 1 2 3 1 José R. Parga , Jesús L. Valenzuela , Héctor Moreno , Jaime E. Pérez 1 Department of Metallurgy and Materials Science, Institute Technology of Saltillo, Saltillo, México 2Departament of Chemistry and Metallurgy , University of Sonora, Hermosillo, México 3Chemistry Department, Institute Technology of Laguna, Torreón, México E-mail : jrparga@its.mx Received August 26, 2011; revised September 13, 2011; accepted September 23, 2011 Abstract Cyanidation is the main process for gold and silver recovery from its ores. In this study, a process is pro- posed to recover copper and cyanide from barren solutions from the Merrill-Crowe cementation process with zinc dust. This technology is based on inducing nucleated precipitation of copper and silver in a serpentine reactor, using sodium sulfide as the precipitator, and sulfuric acid for pH control. Results show that pH value has a significant effect on copper cyanide removal efficiency, and it was determined the optimal pH range to be 2.5 - 3. At this pH value, the copper cyanide removal efficiency achieved was up to 97% and 99%, when copper concentration in the influent was 636 and 900 ppm. respectively. In this process (sulphidiza- tion-acidification-thickening-HCN recycling), the cyanide associated with copper cyanide complexes, is re- leased as HCN gas under weakly acidic conditions, allowing it to be recycled back to the cyanidation process as free cyanide. Cyanid