LEACHING OF COPPER FROM PACITAN CHALCOPYRITE ORE IN SULFURUC ACID WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF OZONE

• Main Author: SETYAWAN (NIM:22109310), GUNARDI
• Format: Theses
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/20140
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Ozon is a strong oxidizing agent which has higher oxidizing power than O2, Cl2 and H2O2. Ozon can be generated from air or oxygen in an ozone generator without the need of certain chemical additions. In this research thesis, the extraction of copper from chalcopyrite ore from the district of Pacitan, East Java by leaching in sulfuric acid with the assistance of ozone was studied. The role of ozone is oxidizing sulfur into sulfur elemental (So) which is further oxidized to sulfate ion (SO42-) which results in the cracking of the sulfur and copper bond in ore and copper metal can be dissolved. <br /> <br /> <br /> Series of leaching tests have been conducted to study the effects of sulfuric acid concentration, particle size distribution of the ore, the solution temperature, the ratio of ore weight to solution volume and ozone injection dosage on the extraction percentage of copper and leaching selectivity to iron. Based on the experimental results, the concentration of sulfuric acid, the dosage of ozone injection, ore particle size distribution, the ratio of ore to solution and solution temperature that provide the highest percent extraction of copper with a minimal percentage of iron co-dissolution (selective). Copper leaching kinetics was studied by adopting shrinking core model The results of the kinetics study indicate the rate controlling step of the leaching process, the value of reaction rate or diffusion constants and activation energy for the leaching. <br /> <br /> <br /> The investigation results showed that the highest percentage of copper extraction of 97.9% obtained from the leaching of chalcopyrite ore with 0.5 molar sulfuric acid with particle size distribution of -150 mesh, stirring speed of 300 rpm, the ratio of ore:solution of 3gr : 1L and solution temperature of 30oC. This result was not much different to those resulted from the tests with 0.25 M sulfuric acid (96.9%) and 1M sulfuric acid (95.1%). In the experiments with variations in temperature, the best copper extraction percentage of 97.9% was obtained at the lowest solution temperature of 30oC. The results of the kinetics study indicated that the rate of copper leaching is controlled by the diffusion through unreacted core with activation energy of 0.3874 kJ/mole.