Kinetics of sulphuric acid leaching of a zinc silicate calcine

Recent developments of acid leaching and solvent extraction of zinc silicate ores have produced renewed commercial interest. However, the leaching kinetics of these concentrates has received little attention. This work, therefore, addresses the leaching of a zinc silicate concentrate in sulphuric acid. The effects of particle size (0.038–0.075mm), temperature (30–50°C) and initial acid concentration (0.2–1.0mol/L) were studied. The results show that decreasing the particle size while increasing the temperature and acid concentration increase the leaching rate. As leaching occurs, there is a progressive dissolution of willemite while the quartz and iron-containing phases remain inert. Among the kinetic models of the porous solids tested, the grain model with porous diffusion control successfully described the zinc leaching kinetics. The model enabled the determination of an activation energy of 51.9 ± 2.8kJ/mol and a reaction order of 0.64 ± 0.12 with respect to sulphuric acid, which are likely to be a consequence of the parallel nature of diffusion and chemical reaction in porous solids.