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2011-Sustainable Industrial Processing Summit
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| Editors: | Florian K |
| Publisher: | Flogen Star OUTREACH |
| Publication Year: | 2012 |
| Pages: | 764 pages |
| ISBN: | 978-0-9879917-5-1 |
| ISSN: | 2291-1227 (Metals and Materials Processing in a Clean Environment Series) |
From Copper Matte To Copper Cathode: The ECUPREX Process
Massimo Maccagni1;1ENGITEC TECHNOLOGIES SPA, Novate Milanese, Italy;
Type of Paper: Invite
Id Paper: 367
Topic: 14
Abstract:
The ECUPREX Process is part of the FLUOBORATE Technology developed in the nineties by Engitec Technologies for the electrochemical recovery of lead and copper from primary and secondary sources. We discover that chalcocite and covellite are highly leachable using this ECUPREX Process. However, chalcopyrite was not leachable in this system.We studied different approaches to leach copper from chalcopyrite. We needed to convert it into something suitable to be fed to the ECUPREX unit in order to realize a fully hydrometallurgical approach. We realized that matte and/or white metal has a composition very close to a secondary copper sulphide. Some years ago, we run a campaign in our lab pilot unit recovering copper directly from matte and white metal coming from a primary copper smelting.In this paper we will present the results of this campaign.