Experimental Study on Separation of Iron and Arsenic from Copper Sulfate Solution

A certain quantity of iron was present in the waste acid leach copper smelting dust, which affects the quality of the copper and current efficiency. Elimination of iron and arsenic, the effects of various temperatures, times, H₂O₂ dosage, and initial pH were researched. The experimental findings indicated that the ideal conditions were 80°C, 3 h, hydrogen peroxide 6.5 times the dose of Fe²⁺ in the theoretical oxidizing solution, and initial pH of 4. Arsenic removal rate was 99.5%, while iron removal rate could be 98.99%. The solution’s iron concentration and arsenic concentration were both < 0.01 g/L under ideal circumstances. In addition, the morphology of the substances or elements involved in the precipitation of iron and arsenic was examined using XRD and thermodynamic studies, and the morphology of the precipitated slag was examined using SEM-EDS. These results show that hydrogen peroxide succeeded in removing arsenic and iron from the copper sulfate solution, and a pure copper sulfate solution was obtained.