Assessment of Copper Concentrate Processing Technologies—Flowsheet Development and Energy and Mass Balance Calculations
摘要
Copper sulfideCopper sulfides ores are conventionally processed via flotationFlotation, smeltingSmelting, converting, and refiningRefining. Though well-established, the conventional process is not suited to treatment of copper concentratesCopper concentrate containing high levels of impuritiesImpurity, such as arsenicArsenic. Various hydrometallurgical technologiesTechnology have been developed to process these high impurityImpurity copper concentratesCopper concentrate. This study conducted a comprehensive review of existing copper concentrateCopper concentrate leachingLeaching technologiesTechnology. These technologiesTechnology were broadly categorized into bioleachingBioleaching and chemical leachingLeaching. Chemical leachingLeaching was further divided into low (<119 ºC), medium (119–159 ºC), and high temperature (>190 ºC) in sulfateSulfate media, chlorideChloride leachingLeaching, and leachingLeaching with ammonia and other lixiviants. For each technologyTechnology, the following information is reviewed: characteristics of feed materials (Cu, precious metalsPrecious metals and impuritiesImpurity), particle size reduction, leachingLeaching conditions, copper recoveryCopper recovery, ironIron removal, fate of sulfurSulfur, and impuritiesImpurity disposal. After the technologyTechnology review, a scorecard was developed to evaluate and rank these technologiesTechnology. The scorecard comprises five criteria—risk, reward, footprint, orebody suitability, and cost—each assigned a weight. Within each criterion, there is a set of key performance indicatorsKey Performance Indicator (KPI), each with its own weight. The Albion process was then selected to demonstrate flowsheet developmentFlowsheet development and mass and energy balanceMass and energy balance calculations.