Process for Controlled Oxidation of a Ferrous Solution
AssigneeBhp Billiton Olympic Dam Corporation Pty Ltd
InventorGary Vernon Rorke
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Abstract
A process for producing a ferric containing solution by the controlled oxidation of a ferrous containing solution, said process including providing a solution containing at least ferrous ions; treating the solution with one or more inlet gases containing sulfur dioxide and oxygen in order to oxidize said ferrous ions to ferric ions, wherein the delivery rate of the sulfur dioxide gas is oxidation rate limiting; and controlling the concentration of dissolved oxygen in said solution at an optimum value.
Claims30
A process for producing a ferric containing solution by the controlled oxidation of a ferrous containing solution, said process including:
- providing a solution containing at least ferrous ions;
- treating the solution with one or more inlet gases containing sulfur dioxide and oxygen in order to oxidize said ferrous ions to ferric ions, wherein the delivery rate of the sulfur dioxide gas is oxidation rate limiting;
- and
- controlling the concentration of dissolved oxygen in said solution at an optimum value at which the process remains oxidative.
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A process for recovering a target metal from a material including at least said target metal, including the steps of:
- (a) preparing a ferric containing oxidising solution by:
- (i) treating an acidic solution including at least ferrous ions with one or more gases including sulfur dioxide and oxygen in order to oxidize said ferrous ions to ferric ions, wherein the delivery rate of the sulfur dioxide gas is oxidation rate limiting;
- and
- (ii) controlling the concentration of dissolved oxygen in said slurry at an optimum value at which the process remains oxidative;
- (b) leaching said material with a leachant including said ferric containing solution;
- and
- (c) recovering said target metal from the resultant leachate.
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A process for recovering a target metal from a material containing at least said target metal, including the steps:
- (a) preparing a slurry of the material;
- (b) leaching said slurry with an acidic leachant including a ferric containing solution prepared by:
- (i) treating an acidic, ferrous solution with one or more gases containing sulfur dioxide and oxygen in order to oxidize said ferrous ions to ferric ions, wherein the delivery rate of the sulfur dioxide gas is oxidation rate limiting;
- and
- (ii) controlling the concentration of dissolved oxygen in said solution at an optimum value at which the process remains oxidative;
- (c) recovering said target metal from the resultant leachate.
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System for use in a process for recovering a target metal from a slurry of a material containing at least said target metal, said process including the step of leaching the slurry with an acidic, ferric containing solution prepared by treating an acidic ferrous solution with gaseous sulfur dioxide and oxygen in order to oxidise said ferrous ions to ferric ions, wherein the delivery rate of sulfur dioxide gas is oxidation rate limiting, said system being configured such as to enable the control of the concentration of dissolved oxygen in said solution at an optimum value at which the process remains oxidative.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.