Recovery of zinc from leach residues with minimum iron dissolution using oxidative leaching

Abstract

Leaching was performed to recover zinc from a zinc leach residue which contained 9.87% Zn and 4.93% Fe. During sulfuric acid leaching, Fe was dissolved as well as Zn which can reduce the Zn extraction efficiency. Leaching the residue in the presence of an oxidizing reagent such as hydrogen peroxide or manganese dioxide significantly reduced the iron content of the leach liquor. Effect of pH, temperature, solid/liquid ratio, reaction time and hydrogen peroxide or manganese dioxide concentration on the recovery of zinc and iron in non-oxidative and oxidative leaching conditions were investigated. By using the optimum oxidative leaching conditions, iron recovery reduced from 70% in non-oxidative leaching to 0.4 and 5% in the presence of MnO2 and H2O2, respectively, with acceptable Zn recovery. This reduction in the iron content was due to the different iron compounds formed at different conditions.