The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 17, 1981
Filed:
Jan. 23, 1980
Frank A Baczek, Sandy, UT (US);
Bruce C Wojcik, Kearns, UT (US);
Alexander A Jueschke, Salt Lake City, UT (US);
Daniel M Lewis, Salt Lake City, UT (US);
Jack C Otto, Magma, UT (US);
Lawrence L Tuttle, Sandy, UT (US);
Envirotech Corporation, Menlo Park, CA (US);
Abstract
A process and system are provided for recovering copper from chalcopyrite concentrate. The chalcopyrite is ground to a mean particle size of about 1.5-5 microns. The ground chalcopyrite is then divided into a first stream and a second stream. The first stream is leached in a leach solution containing at least about 100 gpl sulfuric acid and about 10-30 gpl ferric iron to produce a copper sulfate solution containing about 40-75 gpl dissolved copper and less than about 5 gpl ferric iron. The second stream of ground chalcopyrite is combined with the copper sulfate solution and with sulfur dioxide such that the combination reacts to precipitate dissolved copper from the copper sulfate solution as simple copper sulfides and to produce a liquor containing dissolved ferrous iron. The simple copper sulfides are then separated from the ferrous iron liquor. Sulfuric acid is added to the ferrous iron liquor to precipitate the ferrous iron as ferrous sulfate and the produce a recycle solution containing about 400-600 gpl sulfuric acid. The recycle solution is added to the leach solution. Copper is recovered from the simple copper sulfides.