Analysis of Waste Quality for Two-Step Biohydrometallurgical Processing of Copper–Zinc Concentrate

Abstract

Iron and non-ferrous metals has been shown to accumulate in the liquid phase during the two-step biohydrometallurgical treatment of copper–zinc concentrate. The removal of iron as a precipitate from a solution obtained after ferric leaching of the concentrate and its subsequent bioregeneration has been studied. Iron was almost completely (98.3%) removed from the liquid phase as jarosite, and the pH value increased up to 2.4 with the addition of lime. About 95% of non-ferrous metals remained in the solution as sulfates. Comparative analysis of the obtained precipitates (including waste from the two-step process) showed that the loss of non-ferrous metals for them was lower than that in waste from the mining of copper–zinc ores and copper smelters.