JPH07188963A - Method for recovering copper from waste copper electrolyte - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To energy-savingly recover high-purity copper from a waste copper electrolyte. CONSTITUTION:The impurities such as Cu, As and Sb in a circulating electrolyte in the electrolytic refining of copper are recovered as the sulfide consisting essentially of copper sulfide by treating the electrolyte with hydrogen sulfide. An electrolytic cell 1 having an anode 4 and a cathode 6 and provided with an anode chamber 3 formed by partitioning the anode 4 at the center with a diaphragm 2 is used, and the recovered sulfide is agitated and anodized by using an aq. sulfuric acid soln. as the electrolyte to deposit pure copper on the cathode 6 which is recovered.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for recovering copper from electrolytic waste liquid generated when electrolytically refining high-purity copper from crude copper.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, as a method for recovering copper from a copper electrolytic waste solution, a method shown by a flow sheet in FIG. 2 is known. According to this conventional method, as shown in FIG. 2, electrolytic waste liquid is used as a raw material for a converter or a smelting furnace by depositing copper on the cathode using an insoluble electrode, and the treatment liquid is recovered as sulfuric acid after recovery of nickel. It is known how to

[0003]

In recent years, there has been a tendency for the amount of electrolytic waste liquid treated to increase with the increase in size of copper electrolysis equipment, and the copper deposited on the cathode in the above-mentioned conventional method has a low purity, so that it can At present, it is only used as a raw material for a smelting furnace or the like, and is not always desirable from the viewpoint of energy saving and yield.

[0004]

Therefore, the inventors of the present invention conducted a study for recovering high-purity copper from a copper electrolysis waste liquid from the above viewpoints, and as a result, as shown in the flow sheet of FIG. And recover impurities such as Cu and As and Sb in the liquid as sulfides containing copper sulfide as a main component, and the anode 4 and the cathode 6 are installed as shown in the schematic longitudinal sectional view of FIG. In addition, while using the electrolytic cell 1 in which the anode chamber 3 in which the anode is partitioned by the diaphragm 2 at the central portion is formed, the recovered sulfide is stirred in the anode chamber using an aqueous sulfuric acid solution as an electrolytic solution, According to the research result, when electrolytic treatment is performed, for example, 99.9% or more of high-purity copper is deposited on a stainless steel cathode.

The present invention has been made based on the above-mentioned research results. The reflux electrolytic solution in copper electrolytic refining is treated with hydrogen sulfide to remove impurities such as Cu and As and Sb from the solution into copper sulfide. Recovered as the main component sulfide,
An anode and a cathode are installed, and the recovered sulfide is stirred using an aqueous sulfuric acid solution as an electrolytic solution in the anode chamber using an electrolytic cell in which an anode chamber is formed by partitioning the anode in the center with a diaphragm. It is characterized in that anodic electrolytic treatment is carried out during the treatment to deposit pure copper on the cathode and recover it.

[0006]

EXAMPLES Next, the method of the present invention will be specifically described by way of examples. Hydrogen sulfide was blown into a copper electrolysis waste liquid containing Cu: 50 g / l shown in FIG. 1 to precipitate a sulfide containing copper sulfide as a main component, and the precipitate was filtered, dried and pulverized to obtain a sulfide powder. This sulfide powder was loaded into the anode chamber 3 of the electrolytic cell 1 shown in FIG.
Of the sulfuric acid aqueous solution and blowing air from the air blowing pipe 5 to stir the inside of the anode chamber 3 Current density: 1,500 A / m ² (anode surface standard), Powder concentration in the anode chamber: 350 g / l, Electrolysis time: The method of the present invention was carried out by anodizing under the condition of 8 hr to deposit pure copper on the stainless steel cathode provided along the side wall of the electrolytic cell, and to leave S in the slurry in the anode chamber. It was

Further, for the purpose of comparison, the electrolytic waste solution was subjected to decopperization electrolytic treatment using a lead plate anode and a copper plate cathode to carry out a conventional method to deposit electrolytic copper on the cathode.

[0008]

As a result, the pure copper obtained by the method of the present invention has a purity of 99.96%, while the electrolytic copper obtained by the conventional method has a purity of only 99.1%.
As described above, according to the method of the present invention, high-purity copper of 99.9% or more can be recovered from the copper electrolysis waste liquid, which greatly contributes to energy saving and yield of copper recovery.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a process chart showing a method of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic vertical sectional view showing an apparatus for carrying out the method of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a process drawing showing a conventional method.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1. Electrolysis tank 2. Diaphragm 3. Anode chamber 4. Anode 5. Air blowing pipe 6. cathode

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A reflux electrolytic solution in copper electrorefining is treated with hydrogen sulfide to recover impurities such as Cu and As and Sb in the solution as a sulfide containing copper sulfide as a main component, and an anode and a cathode are installed. In addition, using an electrolytic cell in which an anode chamber partitioned by a diaphragm in the center of the anode is formed, the recovered sulfide is anodically electrolyzed in the anode chamber while stirring using an aqueous sulfuric acid solution as an electrolytic solution. Then, a method of recovering copper from a copper electrolysis waste liquid, which comprises depositing pure copper on the cathode and recovering it.