Abstract:
In order to investigate issues of leaching malachite with ammoniacal solution, thermodynamic equilibriums of CuO-CO
2-NH
3-H
2O system is studied, obtaining a series of equilibrium diagrams. The results show that OH
- replaces gradually to form precipitate when pH is increased. The order of stable solids from low to high pH value is as follows: azurite, malachite and copper hydroxide. PH plays a decisive role in copper leaching. At low pH, H
+ competes with Cu
2+ to combine with NH
3, which leads to a low concentration of copper-ammonia complex in solution; at high pH, OH
- competes with NH
3 to combine with Cu
2+, which makes copper in solution convert to copper hydroxide precipitate. When the pH value is between 8 and 11, the competitive effects of H
+ and OH
- are relatively weak. Most ammonia form complex with copper, and is the predominant species. Besides, the calculated theoretical optimal pH for leaching malachite is between 9.3 and 9.4. There is a roughly linear relationship between the total concentration of copper and nitrogen under this condition.