Recovery of copper sulfate after treating As-containing wastewater by precipitation method

Abstract

The solid sodium hydroxide neutralized acidic As-containing wastewater till pH value was 6. Green copper arsenite was prepared after copper sulfate was added into the neutralized wastewater when the molar ratio of Cu to As was 2:1 and pH value of the neutralized wastewater was adjusted to 8.0 by sodium hydroxide. The arsenious acid solution and red residue were produced after copper arsenite mixed with water according to the ratio of liquid to solid of 4:1 and copper arsenite was reduced by SO₂ at 60 °C for 1 h. The white powder was gained after the arsenious acid solution was evaporated and cooled. Copper sulfate solution was obtained after the red residue was leached by H₂SO₄ solution under the action of air. The results show that red residue is Cu₃(SO₃)₂·2H₂O and the white powder is As₂O₃. The leaching rate of Cu reaches 99.00% when the leaching time is 1.5 h, molar ratio of H₂SO₄ to Cu is 1.70, H₂SO₄ concentration is 24% and the leaching temperature is 80 °C. The direct recovery rate of copper sulfate is 79.11% and the content of CuSO₄·5H₂O is up to 98.33% in the product after evaporating and cooling the copper sulfate solution.

Keywords

As-containing wastewater / SO₂ / As₂O₃ / copper sulfate / copper arsenite / recovery

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