Electric-oxidation extraction of molybdenite concentrate in alkaline NaCl electrolyte

Abstract

The dissolution of molybdenite concentrate in NaCl electrolyte was investigated. The results show that the dissolution rate increases with the increase in liquid-to-solid ratio, stirring speed, NaCl concentration and temperature. When the liquid-to-solid ratio is 30:1, stirring speed is 400 r/min, concentration of NaCl is 4 mol/L at pH=9 and room temperature, the leaching efficiency of molybdenite concentrate will reach 99.5% in 240 min. Molybdenite concentrate cannot be electro-oxidized directly on the anode. The kinetic studies show that the dissolution of molybdenite concentrate is represented by shrinking core model with diffusion through a porous product layer of element sulfur, and the apparent activation energy for the dissolution reaction is 8.56 kJ/mol.

Keywords

wet leaching / molybdenite / electric-oxidation / kinetics / dissolution

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