Using the Ferric for Leaching Sulfides—CEMIN and Ecowinning Technologies Experience
摘要
Ecowinning TechnologiesTechnology tech is based on the generation of oxidizingOxidizing agent ion ferricFerric (Fe3+), by installing both a parallelParallel process and/or modifying the existing electrowinningElectrowinning plant, while generating cathodesCathode of the highest purity. Ecowinning Process™ patented technologyTechnology consists in the use of ion exchange membranesIon exchange membrane, which oxidize the ferrousFerrous from the ILS (Intermediate Leachate Solution)/raffinate to produce ferricFerric; all of this happen inside the specially adapted electrowinningElectrowinning cell. The company changes conventional anodesAnode for its membrane encased devices to produce the reaction. At the same time, rich electrolyteElectrolyte is processed inside the cell in a separate reaction, obtaining 99.999% copperCopper cathodesCathode. Also, this process doesn’t produce acid mistAcid mist and uses less energy than the conventional one. The presentation will explain further the process and share the real-life experience of the industrial modularModular plant installed inside CEMIN Planta Amalia operationOperation. Ecowinning TechnologiesTechnology now produces 4 g/l of ferricFerric for a flow of 3 m3/h of ILS coming from the Solvent ExtractionSolvent extraction (SX) plant. The plant is fully functional, and it works 24/7/365. The ferricFerric produced is used to feed CEMIN’s agglomeration process, complementing chlorideChloride leachingLeaching, which has been used by the operationOperation since 2020. Also, current results and potential applications in larger hydrometallurgical plants will be presented.