Treatment of leached solutions by electrodeposition to obtain copper and zinc powder

Abstract

Objective. To evaluate the treatment of leached solutions by electrodeposition to obtain copper and zinc powder. Material and methods. It is an experimental study, of explanatory level. A leaching of oxidized copper ores in acid medium was carried out, followed by filtration and purification of the solution. A 200 mL sample of the purified solution containing copper was selected for testing. A 23 factorial design was used, with 8 runs with 3 central means. The variables studied were voltage (2.54 and 2.75 volts) and pH (1.5 and 1.8) and time (160 and 260 minutes). Results. The best copper recovery (38.75%) was achieved at 2.75 volts, pH 1.8 and 260 minutes. The quality of the powder obtained by electrodeposition achieved a yield of 90.87% at 2.54 volts, pH 1.5 and 160 minutes, The statistically significant effects for copper powder quality were A(voltage), AB (voltage*pH) and BC (pH*Time), while, for recovery, the significant effects were C(time), B(pH), BC (pH*Time), AC (voltage*time), ABC(Voltage*pH*time), AB (voltage*pH), A(voltage). It was concluded that the quality of copper powder obtained by electrodeposition is mainly influenced by voltage, voltage*pH and pH*Time, while recovery is influenced by time, pH, voltage, pH*Time, voltage*time, voltage*time, Voltage*pH*time and voltage*pH, with voltage being the most influential factor on quality and time on recovery.