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    Investigation of Cu-S intermediate species during electrochemical dissolutionand bioleaching of chalcopyrite concentrate

    Weimin Zeng, Guanzhou Qiu, Miao Chen

    PII: S0304-386X(13)00046-7DOI: doi: 10.1016/j.hydromet.2013.02.009Reference: HYDROM 3683

    To appear in: Hydrometallurgy

    Received date: 21 November 2012Revised date: 31 January 2013Accepted date: 11 February 2013

    Please cite this article as: Zeng, Weimin, Qiu, Guanzhou, Chen, Miao, Investigationof Cu-S intermediate species during electrochemical dissolution and bioleaching of chal-copyrite concentrate, Hydrometallurgy (2013), doi: 10.1016/j.hydromet.2013.02.009

    This is a PDF le of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication.As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript.The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its nal form. Please note that during the production processerrors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers thatapply to the journal pertain.

    http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.hydromet.2013.02.009http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.hydromet.2013.02.009http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.hydromet.2013.02.009http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.hydromet.2013.02.009

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    Investigation of Cu-S intermediate species during electrochemical

    dissolution and bioleaching of chalcopyrite concentrate

    Weimin Zenga, b, c

    , Guanzhou Qiua, b*

    , Miao Chenc*

    a School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha, China b Key Laboratory of Biometallurgy, Ministry of Education, Changsha, Chinac CSIRO Process Science and Engineering, Clayton, Victoria, 3169, Australia

    Abstract : the electrochemistry behaviour of chalcopyrite electrodes was investigated by

    cyclic voltammetry. The results showed that the Cu-S intermediate species during

    electrochemical dissolution of chalcopyrite was mainly as Cu 2S, Cu xS (1

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    using moderate thermophilies compared with mesophiles to bioleach chalcopyrite can

    greatly improve the leaching reaction kinetics, avoids excessive chalcopyrite

    passivation and finally improve the total copper extraction percentage (Cancho et al.,

    2007; Wu et al., 2007; Zhou et al., 2009).

    Bioleaching of chalcopyrite always involves the oxidation of elemental sulphur, iron

    and copper depending on the leaching parameters (Nicol et al., 1984). The oxidation

    of iron ion was simple and its valence was from Fe 2+ to Fe 3+ . The oxidation of copper

    was mainly performed among Cu 0, Cu + and Cu 2+, while the oxidation of sulphur was

    very complex (from S 2- to S 6+). Due to these, there were several potential intermediate

    species during dissolution of chalcopyrite, such as Cu 2S, Cu 1.92S, Cu 1.6S, Cu 1.4S and

    CuS (Koch et al., 1971; Crundwell 1988).

    In the electrochemistry researches, cyclic voltammetry was often used to detect the

    intermediate species during dissolution of chalcopyrite (Li et al., 2006; Lopez -Juarez

    et al., 2006). Nava and Gonzalez (2006) investigated the oxidation of chalcopyrite by

    cyclic voltammetry and found that Cu 1-r Fe1-sS2-t, Cu 1-xFe1-yS2-z, CuS and Fe 2(SO 4)3

    (solid) were the oxidation products of chalcopyrite when the applied potential of

    cyclic voltammetry was from 0.411 to 0.961V (vs Ag/AgCl). Mikhlin et al. (2004)

    found that S 0, Cu 1-xFe1-yS2-z and CuS were the intermediate species during oxidation

    of chalcopyrite when the applied potential was from 0.4 to 0.8V (vs Ag/AgCl). But

    Yin et al. (1995) did not find the evidence of S 0 on the chalcopyrite surface and they

    proposed the formation of a copper sulphide CuS 2 when the potential was from 0.4 to

    0.5V (vs Ag/AgCl). Furthermore, Hiroyoshi et al. (2002) found that the addition of

    copper ion would promote the dissolution of chalcopyrite, so they considered Cu 2S

    would formed due to the reaction of chalcopyrite with copper ion when the potential

    was from 0.4 to 0.5V (vs Ag/AgCl). It can be seen that although there were many

    researchers attempted to identify the process involved in the formation of intermediate

    species by cyclic voltammetry, many inconsistencies existed compared with their

    reports. These may be due to that the reactions of chalcopyrite would change mainly

    according to the type of impurities or because of variations in stoichiometry or

    depending on the leaching parameters (Shuey 1975; Prosser 1970).

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    Although the Cu-S intermediate species could be analysed successfully by cyclic

    voltammetry in this study, it was difficult to use normal XRD or EDX to detect these

    species during bioleaching process, which had two possible reasons: 1) the amounts

    of these species produced by bioleaching were small; 2) these species were very easy

    to be oxidized during bioleaching. However, in the electrochemistry experiment,

    Woods et al. (1987) found that the high concentration of copper ion would promote

    the production of Cu-S intermediate species during chemical leaching. Therefore, in

    the bioleaching experiment, when the high concentration of copper ions was added or

    produced, the amounts of these intermediate species maybe also increase. This paper

    investigated the potential Cu-S intermediate species during electrochemical

    dissolution of chalcopyrite, and then these species were identified to be either the

    oxidation production of chalcopyrite or the reduction production of copper ion and

    sulphur. Finally, the chalcopyrite concentrate was bioleached by moderate

    thermophiles and the effect of copper ion on the formation of Cu-S intermediate

    species was analysed.

    2. Materials and methods

    2.1 Chalcopyrite sample

    The chalcopyrite used in the electrochemistry experiments was obtained from Yushui

    Copper Sulphide Mine in Meizhou, Guangdong, China. XRD analysis indicates that

    the ore sample contains about 98% chalcopyrite and 2% silicate.

    The chalcopyrite used in the bioleaching experiment was also obtained form Yushui

    Copper Sulphide Mine. This ore sample was a chalcopyrite concentrate, and the XRD

    analysis indicates that the sample mainly includes chalcopyrite (64%), pyrite (17%),

    galena (15%), and gangue (4%). This chalcopyrite concentrate had been used for

    culture moderate thermophiles for more than 2 years and thus the bioleaching

    microorganisms were very adaptive to this concentrate (Zhou et al., 2009).

    2.2 The Cu-S intermediate species during electrochemistry experiments

    The chalcopyrite electrodes were made by the pure chalcopyrite. The purechalcopyrite was cut with a work surface of approximately 0.2 cm 2 and, as far it was

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    possible, with no visible imperfections. The specimens were placed on an epoxy resin

    and were connected to a copper wire by silver paint on the back face. Preparation of

    electrode surface after coarse grinding was completed on 1200-grit silicon carbide

    paper. Furthermore, after each experiment, the electrode was taken out from the

    electrolyte and then repeats to grind on 1200-grit silicon carbide paper to get a fresh

    surface.

    For the electrochemistry experiment, a three-electrode system was used. The cell

    consisted of the chalcopyrite working electrode, a platinum counter electrode and an

    Ag/AgCl reference electrode. The electrolyte used, modified 9K medium (Shown as

    2.3), was prepared using analytical grade reagents. The electrochemical experiments

    were carried out at 48 °C and pH 2.0, using a PARSTAT 2273 Potentiostat with

    Power-Suite Software of the same company. Cycles were performed from 0 to 800

    mV (vs Ag/AgCl), then to -800 mV (vs Ag/AgCl), and back to 0 mV (vs Ag/AgCl).

    All tests were carried out at a scan rate of 30 mV/s (vs Ag/AgCl). In the paper, all

    potential values are expressed vs. the Ag/AgCl electrode (3M KCl).

    The mineral surface was characterised by SEM and EDX, which were performed on

    an FEI Quanta 400 field emission, environmental scanning electron microscope

    (ESEM) under high vacuum conditions. Secondary electron imaging was performed

    using beam energies of 15 kV and probe currents of approximately 140 to 145 pA.

    EDS was performed using a beam energy of 15 kV and a probe current of

    approximately 800 pA.

    2.3 Moderate thermophiles used in bioleaching experiments

    Acid Mine Drainages (AMD) samples from several chalcopyrite mines in China were

    collected. The samples were mixed and then inoculated into the culture medium for

    enrichment of moderate thermophiles. This medium was modified 9K consisted of the

    following compounds: (NH 4)2SO 4 3.0 g/L, Na 2SO 4 2.1 g/L, MgSO 4·7H 2O 0.5 g/L,

    K 2HPO 4 0.05 g/L, KCl 0.1 g/L, Ca(NO 3)2 0.01 g/L. And 10 g/L chalcopyrite

    concentrate (with diameter of the particles less than 75 μm) was added as the energy

    source. The moderate thermophiles were enriched at 48°C and initial pH of 2.0 in astirred tank reactor (shown as 2.4.).

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    2.4 The Cu-S intermediate species during bioleaching of chalcopyrite concentrate

    Bioleaching of chalcopyrite concentrate experiments were carried out in a 3 L glass

    cylindrical reactor with a mechanic stirrer operating at 500 r/min. About 1950 mL

    modified 9K medium was added into the reactor; 50 mL seed culture (no soluble

    copper) was inoculated to get a cell density of 10 7 cells/mL. In addition, 80 g

    chalcopyrite concentrate (with diameter of the particles less than 75 μm) was added

    into the reactor to get a pulp density of 4%. After these, different concentration of

    copper sulphate was added into the bioleaching solution to obtain the different

    concentration of copper ion (0, 6, 12, 24, 36 g/L).

    The reactor was placed in a thermostatic bath to keep the constant temperature at 48 ±

    0.2°C. Sterile air was introduced into the base of the reactor at an approximate rate of

    360 mL/min. The experiments were performed at initial pH 2.0. The acid

    consumption was compensated by addition of 10 mol/L sulfuric acid to keep pH value

    around 2. Distilled water was added to the reactor through a peristaltic pump in order

    to compensate for evaporation losses. The levels of Cu 2+, Fe 2+ , total iron in solution

    were analysed at the end day of bioleaching experiment, while the cell density, pH

    value and redox potential was analysed every day. The ore residue bioleached after 10

    days was filtered to remove some of the water and then dried under vacuum (for 24

    hours) for X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis.

    The components of the mineral sample and ore residue were analysed by XRD.

    Copper and total iron concentrations in solution were determined by ICP-AES.

    Ferrous iron concentration in solution was assayed by titration with potassium

    dichromate. Ferric iron concentration is the concentration of total iron minus the

    concentration of ferrous irons. The redox potential (or Eh) was measured using a

    platinum electrode with an Ag/AgCl reference electrode. Free cells in solution were

    observed and counted under an optical microscope.

    3. Results and discussion

    3.1 Cyclic Voltammetric study of chalcopyrite

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    Cyclic voltammetry tests were performed to characterize the oxidation and reduction

    reactions during dissolution of chalcopyrite. Fig.1 shows the results of cyclic

    voltamperometry of chalcopyrite electrodes in the modified 9K electrolyte. There are

    five anodic peaks (A1, A2, A3, A4 and A5) and four cathodic peaks (C1, C2, C3 and

    C4). A4 and A5 are the very common anodic peaks during the study of chalcopyrite

    electrochemical behaviour, which has been reported by many authors (Biegler and

    Swift, 1979; Biegler and Horne, 1985; Gomez et al., 1996). There was a selective

    dissolution of iron from the crystal lattice of chalcopyrite (peak A4) according to Eq.

    (1) and Eq. (2). They reported that a blue layer was observed obviously on the

    chalcopyrite surface after this reaction. This was associated with the formation of

    covllite shown in Eq. (2). When at potential values more than 0.6 V (vs Ag/AgCl), the

    blue layer of covllite could be destroyed according to Eq. (3).

    CuFeS 2 ↔ Cu 1-xFe1-yS2-z + xCu2+ + yFe 2+ + 2S + 2(x+y) e - (1)

    CuFeS 2 ↔ 0.75CuS +1.25S0 + 0.25Cu 2+ + Fe 2+ + 2.5e - (2)

    CuS ↔ S 0 + Cu 2+ + 2e - (3)

    However, Hiroyoshi et al. (2001, 2002) considered that the dissolution of chalcopyrite

    during potential 0.4 — 0.5 V (vs Ag/AgCl) was related to the production of Cu 2S.

    Because they found that after addition of 0.1 mol/L copper ion into the electrolyte, the

    peak A4 would increase in a large scale and they proposed the reaction model as Eq.

    (4):

    CuFeS 2 + 3Cu 2+ + 3Fe 2+ ↔ 2Cu 2S + 4Fe 3+ (4)

    Furthermore, Yin et al. (1995) also did not agree with Eq(2), because they did not find

    the evidence of S 0 on the chalcopyrite surface and they proposed the formation of a

    copper sulphide according to Eq(5). It can be seen from these that the oxidation

    reaction of chalcopyrite at 0.4 — 0.5 V (vs Ag/AgCl) was different according to the

    different authors’ reports. Therefore, it is necessary to investigate which of the Cu-S

    intermediate species such as CuS, Cu 2S and CuS 2 was the oxidation product of

    chalcopyrite in the experiment.

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    CuFeS 2 ↔ CuS 2 + Fe 2+ + 2e - (5)

    At potential values more than 0.7 V (vs Ag/AgCl), it is reported as the oxidation of

    ferrous iron to ferric iron and the oxidation of sulphur to sulphuric acid (Biegler and

    Horne, 1985; Nava et al., 2002). But Lopez-Juarez et al. (2006) considered that the

    oxidation of ferrous iron should be favoured (Eq. (6)), because a large quantity of S 0

    was still observed on the chalcopyrite surface with scanning electron microscope

    (SEM) and energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDX).

    CuFeS 2 ↔ 2S 0 + Cu 2+ + Fe 3+ + 5e - (6)

    In the inverse scan, there was series reduction peaks appeared especially from -0.2 to

    0.2 V (vs Ag/AgCl) of potential value. These peaks could be attributed to the

    reduction of some species produced during the anodic scan like Cu 2+ and Fe 3+ (Eq. (7),

    Eq. (8) and Eq. (9)), according to Holliday and Richmond (1990).

    Fe3+ + e - ↔ Fe 2+ (7)

    Cu 2+ + S 0 + 2e - ↔ CuS (8)

    Cu 2+ + 2e - ↔ Cu 0 (9)

    When the potential value was lower than -0.3 V (vs Ag/AgCl), peak C3 and C4 were

    observed. Arce and Gonzalez (2002) and Biegler and Horne (1985) attributed these

    peaks to reduction of covellite and chalcopyrite, respectively (Eq. (10) and Eq. (11)).

    Furthermore, Wood et al. (1987) considered that the reduction of covellite would

    produce several kinds of Cu-S intermediate species such as Cu 1.04 S, Cu 1.38 S, Cu 1.67 S,

    Cu 1.83 S, Cu 1.93 S and Cu 1.96 S.

    2CuS + 2H + + 2e - ↔ Cu 2S + H 2S (10)

    2CuFeS 2 + 6H+ + 2e - ↔ Cu 2S + 2Fe

    2+ + 3H 2S (11)

    While Velasquez et al. (2001) recognized there was the reduction of chalcocite in

    peak C4 according to Eq. (12). The reverse of this reaction accounts for the process

    associated with anodic peak A1 (from -0.4 to -0.3 V, vs Ag/AgCl).

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    Cu 2S + H 2O + 2e - ↔ 2Cu + HS - + OH - (12)

    In the anodic scanning, peaks A1, A2 and A3 were reported not much during the

    dissolution of chalcopyrite, but always existed in the electrochemitry study of

    chalcocite and bornite (Velasquez et al., 2001; Arce and Gonzalez, 2002; Lu et al.,

    2000). Furthermore, according to cathodic reaction shown as above, peaks A1 and A2

    were considered as the oxidation of copper (Eq. (13)) and chalcocite (Eq. (14)).

    2Cu + HS - + OH - ↔ Cu 2S + H 2O + 2e- (13)

    Cu 2S ↔ Cu 1.92 S + 0.08Cu 2+ + 0.16e - (14)

    While the reaction about peak A3 was relatively complicated, Arce and Gonzalez

    (2002) reported that peak A3 maybe associate with the oxidation of Cu xS (1

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    are many kinds of Cu-S intermediate species, such as CuS, Cu 2S and Cu 1.96 S (Lee et

    al., 2008). The investigation about their formation process and relations is very

    important to understand the dissolution mechanism of chalcopyrite.

    3.2.1 CuS

    The Fig.1 showed that CuS could be produced by the oxidation of chalcopyrite when

    the potential was from 0.4 to 0.5V (vs Ag/AgCl), but it was difficult to detect the

    existence of CuS on the electrode surface by XRD or EDX, which was due to that the

    production amount was very small and easy to be oxidized at higher potential than

    0.5V (vs Ag/AgCl). For confirming the formation of CuS during the potential 0.4 —

    05V (vs Ag/AgCl), potentiostatic experiment was applied to the chalcopyrite

    electrode in order to induce a higher amount of solid products formation on the

    electrode surface.

    The potentiostatic experiment (0.45V, vs Ag/AgCl) was applied to chalcopyrite

    electrode surface for 60 s and then the surface was detected and analysed by SEM-

    EDX. After the 60s anodic potentiostatic experiment, a blue layer on the electrodesurface could be observed (Fig.2). The EDX result showed that the amount of S and

    Cu produced by the oxidation of chalcopyrite were large, but the amount of Fe was

    very small. This indicated that the oxidation of chalcopyrite firstly removed Fe and

    formed a blue layer which should be the complex substances of CuS and S 0.

    The copper concentration in the electrolyte after the potentiostatic experiment

    performed for 60s on the electrode was analysed by ICP-OES, and showed a very low

    value (data not shown). In this case when the applied potential was 0.45V (vs

    Ag/AgCl), the reduction reaction of chalcopyrite or copper ion was not easy. As a

    result, CuS on the electrode surface here should be the oxidation production of

    chalcopyrite but not the reduction production, and this prove the correction of Eq(2).

    3.2.2 Cu 2S

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    It can be seen from Fig.1 that the oxidation potential of chalcopyrite was much higher

    than Cu 2S, and this suggested that it is difficult to form Cu 2S during the oxidation of

    chalcopyrite. For further proving this suggestion, linear votalmmetry of chalcopyrite

    electrode was carried out from the different start potential (-0.2V, -0.2V, -0.3V, -0.5V

    and -0.75V, vs Ag/AgCl) to the end potential 0.65V (vs Ag/AgCl, the electrodes were

    not taken out from the electrolyte after the 1 st scan, but continue to be used for the

    next scan). The experiment principle was that if Cu 2S was the product of chalcopyrite

    oxidation at potential 0.4 — 0.5V (vs Ag/AgCl) (Fig.1), the oxidation peak of Cu 2S

    would be detected at the next linear scan at potential -0.2 — 0V (vs Ag/AgCl).

    Otherwise, Cu 2S should be the reduction products of copper ion or CuS (at potential

    lower than -0.3V, vs Ag/AgCl), or the oxidation production of Cu 0 (at potential -0.4 —

    0.3V, vs Ag/AgCl).

    It can be seen from Fig.3 that in the 1 st scan, the potential range was from -0.2V to

    0.65V (vs Ag/AgCl) and the chalcopyrite was oxidized during this scan. After this,

    the second scan was carried out and the potential range was same as the 1 st one. In the

    2nd

    scan, the scan plot was rather similar with the 1st

    one and the oxidation peak ofCu 2S still did not appear during the potential -0.2 — 0 V (vs Ag/AgCl). This indicated

    that Cu 2S did not form by the chalcopyrite oxidation at the potential 0.4 — 0.5 V (vs

    Ag/AgCl). When the start potential decreased to -0.3 V (vs Ag/AgCl, in the 3 rd scan),

    a slightly oxidation peak was observed at potential -0.2 — 0 V (vs Ag/AgCl) and this

    was due to that Cu 2S began to form by the reduction of CuS (which formed as Eq(7)

    from -0.2 to 0.2 V, vs Ag/AgCl). In the 4 th scan, the decrease of start potential to -0.5

    V (vs Ag/AgCl) led the increase of reduction of CuS, and thus the oxidation peak of

    Cu 2S became more obvious. In the 5 th scan, when the start potential decreased to -0.75

    V (vs Ag/AgCl), the oxidation peak of Cu 2S increased due to another reduction

    reaction (Eq. (10)). These concluded that Cu 2S here was the reduction production of

    CuS or chalcopyrite when the potential was lower than -0.3V (vs Ag/AgCl), but not

    the oxidation product of chalcopyrite at potential 0.4 — 0.5V (vs Ag/AgCl).

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    3.2.3 Cu xS (1

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    with the oxidation of Cu 2S. When the concentration of addition copper increased to 6

    g/L, another new oxidation peak at about potential 0.3V (vs Ag/AgCl) was observed

    slightly, this should be the oxidation of another kind of Cu xS (B5) (1

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    chalcopyrite concentrate, the major components of ore residue were chalcopyrite,

    pyrite, lead sulphate, jarosite and chalcanthite (the formation of chalcanthite was due

    to that copper sulphate crystallized with water when the ore residue was drying under

    vacuum). In the experiment A and B, when the addition of copper ion was only 0 and

    6 g/L (Table 1), it was hard to find any Cu-S intermediate species by XRD analysis.

    But when the addition of copper ion increased to 12 g/L (C), the XRD result showed

    that Cu 2S and CuS were produced in the ore residue. When the addition of copper ion

    increased to 24 g/L (D), the other intermediate species like Cu 34S32 and Cu 1.96 S could

    be found. However, when the concentration of total copper ion increased to about 36

    g/L (E), only Cu 2S was detected, but its amount increased in a large scale (data not

    shown). This may be due to that when the copper concentration was the highest (E),

    the redox potential was only 477mV (vs Ag/AgCl), and then the formation of Cu 2S

    would be easier than any other intermediate species (Lee et al., 2008; Woods et al.,

    1987).

    As a result, it can be seen that during bioleaching of chalcopyrite concentrate the

    different concentration of copper ion could affect the bioleaching process. When the

    copper concentration was relatively low, the reduction reaction in the bioleaching

    system was not obvious and Cu-S intermediate species were very difficult to be

    detected by XRD. However, when the copper concentration increased, the reduction

    reaction would be accelerated and the amount of reduction products increased. There

    were several intermediate species formed, but CuS and Cu 2S were the majority. When

    the copper concentration was very high, such as in the experiment E, the Cu-S species

    became simple and only Cu 2S was the reduction product, but its amount increased in a

    large scale than before.

    However, in our previous studies and other author ’s reports, it was hard to detect Cu-

    S intermediate species in the ore residue by XRD during bioleaching of chalcopyrite.

    There were two possible reasons: 1) in the previous studies, the ore residue sample

    after bioleached was dried in the oven at 50-75°C, and in this case the Cu-S

    intermediate species were very easy to be oxidized; 2) when the copper concentration

    in the solution was low, the amount of Cu-S intermediate species was small and easy

    to be dissolved by acid or bioleaching microorganisms, and thus it was hard to detectthem by XRD. These results indicate that during dissolution of chalcopyrite, the

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    oxidation and reduction reactions were performed simultaneously, but at many cases,

    such as when the copper concentration was low, the oxidation reaction was the

    dominant reaction.

    4. Conclusions

    The analysis of the formation process of Cu-S intermediate species indicated that the

    oxidation of chalcopyrite can only produce CuS, but not Cu xS (1

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    Cancho, L., Blázquez, M.L., Ballester, A., González, F., Muñoz, J.A., 2007. Bioleaching of

    chalcopyrite concentrate with moderate thermophilic microorganisms in a continuous

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    Crundwell, F.K., 1988. The influence of the electronic structure of solids on the anodic

    dissolution and leaching of semiconducting sulphide minerals. Hydrometallurgy 21(2),

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    Dutrizac, J.E, 1978. The kinetics of dissolution of chalcopyrite in ferric ion media.

    Metallurgical and Materials Transactions B 9B, 431 – 439.

    Gómez, C., Figueroab, M., Muñoza, J., Blázqueza, M.L., Ballestera A., 1996.

    Electrochemistry of chalcopyrite. Hydrometallurgy 43 (1-3), 331-344.

    Hiroyoshi, N., Miki, H., Hirajima, T., Tsunekawa, M., 2001. Enhancement of chalcopyrite

    leaching by ferrous iron in acidic ferric sulphate solutions. Hydrometallurgy 60(3), 185-

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    Zhou, H.B., Zeng, W.M., Yang, Z.F., Xie, Y.J., Qiu, G.Z., 2009. Bioleaching of chalcopyrite

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    Table 1 The bioleaching parameters during bioleaching of chalcopyrite concentrate

    after addition of different concentration of copper ion in the stirred tank reactor after

    10 days. A: without addition of copper ion, B: addition of 6 g/L copper ion, C:

    addition of 12 g/L copper ion, D: addition of 24 g/L copper ion, E: addition of 36 g/L

    copper ion.

    Experiments Total copper

    (g/L)

    Ferric iron

    (g/L)

    Ferrous iron

    (mg /L)

    pH

    value

    Redox

    potential

    (mV)

    Cell density

    (10 8cells/mL)

    A 4.32 1.83 151 1.66 584 7.9

    B 10.28 1.82 144 1.67 582 7.8

    C 16.04 1.79 148 1.67 579 7.2

    D 27.73 1.72 143 1.7 562 5.6E 37.58 0.94 84 1.84 477 0.4

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    Fig.1. Cyclic voltammetry of chalcopyrite without bioleaching process in the modified 9Kmedium at sweep rate = 30 mV/s. Temperature: 48°C, pH 2.0. Reference electrode: Ag/AgClelectrode.

    A1

    A2

    A3

    A4

    C1C2

    C3

    C4

    A5

    -1.0 -0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0-3.5-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.5-1.0-0.50.00.51.01.5

    2.02.53.03.5

    I / m

    A

    E / V vs Ag/AgCl

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    Fig.2. the formation of CuS and S 0 on the electrode surface during dissolution of chalcopyrite

    when the constant potential pulse was 0.45 V in the electrochemistry experiments. A: the

    electrode surface observed by eye, B: SEM investigation of electrode surface, C: EDX

    analysis of electrode surface.

    C

    BA

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    Fig.3. The linear voltammetry of chalcopyrite from different start potential (-0.2V, -0.2V, -

    0.3V, -0.5V and -0.75V) to the end potential 0.65V in the modified 9K medium at sweep rate

    = 30 mV/s. Temperature: 48°C, pH 2.0. Reference electrode: Ag/AgCl electrode.

    E/V vs Ag/AgCl

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    Fig.4. the effect of different concentration of Cu 2+ (1, 3, 6, 12 g/L) on the electrochemistry

    behaviour of chalcopyrite electrode in the modified 9K medium at sweep rate = 30 mV/s.

    Temperature: 48°C, pH 2.0. Reference electrode: Ag/AgCl electrode. A is the amplified

    figure of linear voltammetry when the addition of Cu 2+ was 1 g/L.

    -0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

    0.0

    0.5

    1.0

    1.5

    2.0

    -0.2 0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8

    0.00

    0.05

    0.10

    0.15

    0.20

    0.25

    C u r r e n

    t / A

    E/ V

    1 g/L

    C u r r e n

    t / A

    E / V vs Ag/AgCl

    1 g/L 3 g/L 6 g/L 12 g/L

    B1 B2 B3

    B1B3

    B4

    B4

    B5

    B1

    B3B4

    B1

    B5A

    B1B2

    B3

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    Fig.5. the XRD analysis of ore residue during bioleaching of chalcopyrite

    concentration after addition of different concentration of Cu 2+ in the stirred tank

    reactor after 10 days. A : without addition of copper ion, B: addition of 6 g/L copper

    ion, C : addition of 12 g/L copper ion, D: addition of 24 g/L copper ion, E : addition of

    36 g/L copper ion.

    A

    CB

    ED