Abstract

The response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to

study the interactions among different factors (i.e.
temperature, liquid to solid ratio, HCl concentration and
chlorine gas flowrate) involved in the leaching of Au from
copper anode slimes. The interactions such as liquid to solid
ratio,
chlorine
gas
flowratetemperature
and
HCl
concentrationtemperature were found to be statistically
significant. Under the optimum operational conditions of Cl 2=
199 L min1, 10000/T=287 K1, L/S=1257 L kg1, HCl=274
mol L1 in a semi-pilot 3-L agitated reactor, the maximum
recovery achieved for Au was around 93% using the second
polynomial equation. This led to a selectivity factor (i.e. the
ratio of Au reaction fraction to the sum of Se and Cu reaction
fractions) of 86. Process optimisation was carried out based on
the maximum selectivity factor achieved. This resulted in the
following optimum conditions: Cl2=126 L min1, 10000/T=
3083 K1, L/S=5 L kg1 and HCl=266 mol L1, with a
separation factor of 112.
Citation
Saeedi, Molood, et al. "Chlorine leaching of Au from copper anode slimes using the
response surface method in an agitated reactor." Mineral Processing and Extractive
Metallurgy (Trans. Inst. Min Metall. C) 124.1 (2015): 9-15.
Saeedi, M., Alamdari, E. K., Darvishi, D., Alamdari, A. K., Fatmehsari, D. H., & kafash, A. B.
(2015). Chlorine leaching of Au from copper anode slimes using the response surface
APA
method in an agitated reactor. Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy (Trans. Inst.
Min Metall. C), 124(1), 9-15.
Saeedi, Molood, Eskandar Keshavarz Alamdari, Dariush Darvishi, Ata Keshavarz Alamdari,
Chicag Davoud Haghshenas Fatmehsari, and Ali Bagheri kafash. "Chlorine leaching of Au from
o
copper anode slimes using the response surface method in an agitated reactor." Mineral
Processing and Extractive Metallurgy (Trans. Inst. Min Metall. C) 124, no. 1 (2015): 9-15.
MLA

Other Works

Recycling gold and copper from waste printed circuit

boards using chlorination process (2015)
Yuchen Hea and Zhenming Xu*a

Waste electric and electronic equipment (WEEE) usually

contains many recoverable and valuable elements, including
gold and copper. Primitive technologies, such as aqua regia

leaching and calcination, are still widely used in China, which

has caused serious pollution in local environments. Chlorination
is a feasible alternative for the recovery of metallic elements
due to the higher dissolution rate, non-polluting character and
selective leaching of different metals by controlling the redox
potential. In the present study, an efficient and less-polluted
chlorination process to recycle gold and copper from waste
PCBs was investigated. This work is based on a physical
processing
with
a
crushpneumatic
separationcorona
electrostatic separation dealing with waste PCBs, which
provided the raw material for chlorination process. The
influence of different pretreatments and experimental
parameters was studied. The result showed that more than
90% of copper could be selective recovered by controlling the
Eh of leaching solution from 400 to 800 mV. The supercritical
process had a better effect with a leaching yield of metallic
elements over 99% percent, for both gold and copper. The ball
milling process had different influence on gold and copper
based on milling time. The leaching yield of copper increased
with increase in ball-milling time. For gold, there was an optimal
time around 10 min at 20 s1 frequency of milling. The leaching
yield of gold could reach more than 99% after a pretreatment
with ball milling for 10 min when the leaching time was 90 min,
the leaching temperature was 40 C and the initial
concentration of sulfuric acid was 100 g L 1. This study could
contribute significantly to metallic element recycling of high
value-added WEEE and provide technological parameters for
.industrial application in the future
Project Abstract