GB276008A - Process for treating copper- and zinc-containing lyes - Google Patents

Abstract

276,008. Grothe, H., and Metallh³tte Magdeburg Ges. Aug. 11, 1926, [Convention date]. Void [Published under Sect. 91 of the Acts]. Cuprous chloride; zinc salts; cobalt salts.-The cupric salts present in liquors obtained by lixiviating chlorinated roasted pyrites are reduced wholly or partly to cuprous salts, principally ouprous chloride, as by means of sulphurous acid, thiosulphate, sulphides, or metals. The cuprous salt may be separated, and the copper remaining in the liquor be precipitated by cementation with iron. When the lixiviation liquors comprise a portion rich in zinc and chloride but poor in copper, and a portion rich in copper but poor in zinc and chloride, the copper content of the latter only may be reduced to the cuprous state. After partial separation of cuprous chloride, acid liberated by its formation may be entirely or partly neutralized by zinc oxide-bearing waste products prior to cementation to remove remaining copper. In treating chlorinated roasted pyrites containing equal amounts of copper and zinc, solutions were obtained containing, respectively, 55-60 per cent of the zinc and 10 per cent of the copper, and the remaining zinc and copper; the former was treated with scrap iron directly; the latter was treated with sulphurous acid or sodium bisulphite, whereby 80 per cent of its copper content was separated as cuprous chloride, the remaining solution, after neutralization with zinc oxide, being treated by cementation. The two copper free solutions so obtained were combined, cooled to separate sodium sulphate, and thereafter treated for recovery of their zinc and cobalt contents.