TY - JOUR
T1 - Arsenic Trioxide Leaching and Scorodite Crystallization in Methanesulfonic Acid
AU - Ahn, Junmo
AU - Wu, Jiajia
AU - Ahn, Jaewoo
AU - Lee, Jaeheon
N1 - Funding Information:
Authors, Junmo Ahn and Jiajia Wu, sincerely appreciate Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold’s support to the Department of Mining and Geological Engineering at the University of Arizona. A portion of their graduate assistantship was subsidized by Freeport-McMoRan Foundation through the Sustaining 21st Century Mining Education in Arizona program. The corresponding author, Dr. Jaeheon Lee, also would like to express his gratitude to Freeport-McMoRan and SME foundation for their support to SME Career Development Grant as a recipient of the program.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Arsenic, one of the most toxic elements, is a byproduct generated from metallurgical processes of arsenic-containing ores. Arsenic can be formed into an arsenic trioxide as a byproduct during the decopperization in electro-refining process when processing high arsenic-bearing copper minerals. However, arsenic trioxide has a very high arsenic mobility, so it requires to be re-dissolved and immobilized into scorodite (FeAsO4▪2H2O). In this study, methanesulfonic acid (MSA) was tested for both arsenic trioxide leaching and scorodite precipitation. Arsenic trioxide leaching tests showed the arsenic extraction of 80% at 21°C in MSA with H2O2 as an oxidant within 6 hours. Meanwhile, arsenic precipitation tests were conducted to achieve above 95% arsenic removal within 6 hours by the formation of scorodite at an initial pH of 0.5 and temperature of 80°C. In addition, coarser scorodite particles were formed in higher temperature and lower solution pH. The optimum condition for scorodite crystallization in MSA medium can be suggested to be at 80°C with the initial pH of 0.5.
AB - Arsenic, one of the most toxic elements, is a byproduct generated from metallurgical processes of arsenic-containing ores. Arsenic can be formed into an arsenic trioxide as a byproduct during the decopperization in electro-refining process when processing high arsenic-bearing copper minerals. However, arsenic trioxide has a very high arsenic mobility, so it requires to be re-dissolved and immobilized into scorodite (FeAsO4▪2H2O). In this study, methanesulfonic acid (MSA) was tested for both arsenic trioxide leaching and scorodite precipitation. Arsenic trioxide leaching tests showed the arsenic extraction of 80% at 21°C in MSA with H2O2 as an oxidant within 6 hours. Meanwhile, arsenic precipitation tests were conducted to achieve above 95% arsenic removal within 6 hours by the formation of scorodite at an initial pH of 0.5 and temperature of 80°C. In addition, coarser scorodite particles were formed in higher temperature and lower solution pH. The optimum condition for scorodite crystallization in MSA medium can be suggested to be at 80°C with the initial pH of 0.5.
KW - Methanesulfonic acid
KW - arsenic ferrihydrite
KW - arsenic precipitation
KW - arsenic trioxide leaching
KW - decopperization
KW - scorodite
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U2 - 10.1080/08827508.2021.1986705
DO - 10.1080/08827508.2021.1986705
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85117304929
SN - 0882-7508
VL - 43
SP - 969
EP - 977
JO - Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy Review
JF - Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy Review
IS - 8
ER -