BASICS OF LEACHING

Presented by
Prasanjit Das
Contents
 INTRODUCTION
 PRINCIPLE OF LEACHING
 APPLICATIONS
 FACTORS AFFECTING RATE OF LEACHING
 LEACHING AGENTS
 METHODS OF LEACHING PROCESS
 ADVANTAGES
 DISADVANTAGES
 CONCLUSION
 INTRODUCTION
Leaching is a solid-liquid separation.
 Leaching is a process of mass transfer that occurs by extracting a
substance from a solid material that has come into contact with a liquid.

• Examples-
a) Making of a green tea.
b) Extraction of coconut milk
from coconut
c) Extraction of oil from soybean
flask.
 Principle of leaching
• Leaching occurs in two steps:
1. Contacting the solvent and solid matrix to effect a transfer
of solute(leaching)

2. Separation of the undesirable component from the

remaining solid with water.( washing)
Application of Leaching
• Leaching can refer to various fields:

1. Agriculture 3. Bioleaching

2. Chemistry 4. Food processing

Factors Affecting Rate Of Leaching

Agitation

Particle size Temperature

Factors

Insoluble Concentration
product

Pulp density
 Leaching Agents

• Leaching agents are chosen based

on a numbers of factors:- Water
 Chemical and physical properties.

Leaching agents
 Selectivity of the reagent towards Acids
desired component.
 Must be cheap and readily Alkali
available in large quantities.
 If possible; should be regenerated Aqueous salt
subsequently. solutions
1. Water
 Water can be used as leaching agents if the material contains water soluble
compounds.

 These compounds can be naturally occurring or can be made through pre-

treatment.
 Naturally occurring materials- Sulphoxy compounds like sulphite,
thiosulphate and sulphates are produced due to natural oxidation of
some sulphide material.
 Pre-treated material- chloride can be leached in water.

MgO(s) + Cl2 (g) + C(s) MgCl2 + CO(g)

2. Acids :
 Mineral acids like H2SO4, HCl and HNO3 are generally used for leaching either
alone or in combination.
 Acid leaching is not suitable for resources containing acid consuming gangue
like CaCO3, MgCO3, CaO, MgO etc.
 H2SO4 is the most commonly used acid because it is cheap, abundantly
available and lower corrosion problem, more suitable if metal is produced by
electrowinning because it regenerates acid.
Some applications of H2SO4
•Dilute H2SO4 CuO, ZnO, sludges, metal scrap
•Dilute H2SO4 + oxidant sulphides of Cu, Ni, Zn;
•Concentrated H2SO4 Cu-sulphide concentrate, laterites
 3. Alkali:
 NaOH, NH4OH, Na2CO3 are generally used for leaching
 More selectivity compared to acid leaching.
 Less corrosion problem in comparison to acid.
 Regeneration of reagent mostly difficult.
 More expensive reagent.
Example: Bayer process for alumina
Al2O3(s) + 2NaOH (aq.) 2NaAlO2(aq.) + H2O (aq.)
Ammonia
 NH3 --leaching of Cu, Ni, Co due to their tendency to form stable ammonia complexes.
 Ammonia is less corrosive than sodium hydroxide.
 It requires less mild conditions for leaching.
 Non-reactive to silica unlike NaOH.
4. Aqueous Salt Solutions
 Some base metal salts like Fe2(SO4)3, FeCl3, CuCl2 can be used for leaching
of sulphide materials.
 Cyanide salts like NaCN, KCN are used for leaching of precious metals like
gold and silver.
Examples :
1. Leaching of covellite
CuS + Fe2(SO4)3  CuSO4 + 2 FeSO4 + S0
Regeneration: 2FeSO4 + 1/2O2 + H2SO4 Fe2(SO4)3 + H2O
2.Gold leaching
4Au + 8 NaCN + O2 + 2H2O  4 NaAu(CN)2 + 4 NaOH
Methods of Leaching

 In-situ(in-place ) leaching

Dump leaching

Heap leaching

Vat leaching

Agitation leaching (or Pulp leaching)

 In-situ leaching
• Solution mining process.
• Generally used for Cu and U ores.
• Open pathways are created by explosive or hydraulic fracturing
method.
• Leaching is effected by alternate and intermittent circulation of air,
water, spent solution etc.
Dump leaching
• For rejected off-grade material put aside in big dumps during
mining.
• Ore is directly taken from mines without crushing hence particle
sizes are big
• Leach solution percolates through the dump and collected in ditches
at the base.
Heap leaching
Industrially practiced for recovery of Ag/Au, Cu and Ni from ore.
• Mine ore is crushed into small chunks and heaped on an plastic and/or
clay pad.
• Leach solution ( e.g. dilute cyanide for Au or dilute H2SO4 for Cu) is
sprinkled from top and percolates through the heap.
 Vat leaching
Vat units are usually rectangular container very big in size.
• Are made of wood or concrete lined with acid or alkali resistant
material.
• Has been practiced industrially for gold and copper.
• Floor of the vat is made with false bed inert material with holes to
facilitate collection of leach solution.
 Agitation leaching
 Agitation can be performed in two
ways. By air or by mechanical
stirrer.
 Suitable for fine ore & can be
operated in batch or continuous
mode.
 Carried out at high temperature/
pressure unlike percolation
leaching.
 High mass transfer is achieved.
 Requires solid-liquid separation
step.
 Advantages & Disadvantages
Advantages:
• Lower capital investment.
• Lower operating costs.
• Lower energy and water requirements.
• potentially much less harmful.
• Lesser air pollution because no gas is generated.
• Simple setup and operation.
Disadvantages:
 Reagents are more costly.
 These are usually either highly acidic or alkali as well as toxic (e.g. Red
mud).
 May create environmental problems.
 Conclusion
• Leaching is widely used in extractive metallurgy.

• It is highly used in the handling of solids to recover important solutes.

• Its study has increased during the last few years due to a large number
of applications and new methods of the optimization process.

• Leaching is an important operation in different fields like agriculture,

metallurgy, and chemistry that is necessary to follow its tendency of
research so that future projects follow the optimum ways to obtain the
highest contribution possible.
 References
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precipitation and electrodialysis techniques, Separation and Purification Technology (2018).

2. Basudev Swain, Recovery and recycling of lithium: A review. Separation and Purification
Technology 172 (2017) 388–403.

3. Pratima Meshram, B.D. Pandey, T.R. Mankhand, Extraction of lithium from primary and secondary
sources by pre-treatment, leaching and separation: A comprehensive review. Hydrometallurgy 150
(2014) 192–208.

4. Xiaoping Yu, Xuebing Fan, Yafei Guo, Tianlong Deng, Recovery of lithium from underground
brine by multistage centrifugal extraction using tri-isobutyl phosphate. Separation and Purification
Technology 211(2019) 790-798.

5. Chemical metalurgy- C.K. Gupta

6. Wikipedia

7. www. Google.com