Claims
- 1. A system for recovering copper from a copper-containing material comprising:
a reactor, wherein said reactor is suitable for reacting at least a portion of a copper-containing feed stream with at least a portion of a copper-containing lean electrolyte stream in an acidic environment to yield a pressure leaching feed stream comprising a solid copper-bearing precipitate and acid; a pressure leaching vessel, wherein said pressure leaching vessel is suitable for leaching at least a portion of said pressure leaching feed stream in an oxidizing environment at an elevated temperature and pressure to yield a product slurry comprising a copper-containing solution and a residue; means for conditioning said product slurry without the use of solvent extraction techniques to yield a copper-containing solution suitable for electrowinning and a residue; and an electrowinning circuit, wherein said electrowinning circuit is suitable for electrowinning copper from said copper-containing solution to yield cathode copper and a copper-containing lean electrolyte stream.
- 2. The system of claim 1 further comprising a liquid-solid separation circuit, wherein said liquid-solid separation circuit is adapted to separate at least a portion of said solid copper-bearing precipitate from said acid to yield a concentrated pressure leaching feed stream.
- 3. The system of claim 1 wherein said pressure leaching vessel is suitable for leaching at least a portion of said pressure leaching feed stream at a temperature of from about 100° C. to about 250° C. and at a pressure of from about 50 to about 750 psi.
- 4. The system of claim 1 wherein said reactor is suitable for reacting at least a portion of a copper-containing feed stream with at least a portion of a copper-containing lean electrolyte stream in the presence of sulfur dioxide, whereby at least a portion of said copper in said copper-containing lean electrolyte stream precipitates as copper sulfide onto at least a portion of the copper-containing material in said feed stream.
- 5. The system of claim 1 wherein said means for conditioning said product slurry comprises a liquid-solid separation circuit adapted to separate at least a portion of said copper-containing solution in said product slurry from said residue in said product slurry to yield a copper-containing solution suitable for electrowinning.
- 6. The system of claim 1 wherein said means for conditioning said product slurry comprises means for controlling the copper concentration of said copper-containing solution.
- 7. The system of claim 1 wherein said means for conditioning said product slurry comprises means for controlling the copper concentration of said copper-containing solution whereby the copper concentration of said copper-containing solution entering said electrowinning circuit is maintained at a level of about 40 grams/liter.
- 8. The system of claim 1 wherein said means for conditioning said product slurry comprises means for blending at least a portion of said copper-containing solution with at least a portion of one or more copper-containing streams to achieve a desired copper concentration in said copper-containing solution.
- 9. The system of claim 8 wherein said means for conditioning said product slurry comprises means for blending at least a portion of said copper-containing solution with at least a portion of a copper-containing lean electrolyte stream to achieve a copper concentration in said copper-containing solution of from about 20 to about 75 grams/liter.
- 10. The system of claim 1 further comprising means for recycling at least a portion of said copper-containing lean electrolyte stream from said electrowinning circuit to said reactor.
- 11. The system of claim 8 further comprising means for recycling at least a portion of said copper-containing lean electrolyte stream from said electrowinning circuit to said conditioning means.
- 12. The system of claim 8 further comprising means for recycling at least a portion of said copper-containing lean electrolyte stream from said electrowinning circuit to said reactor, and means for recycling at least a portion of said copper-containing lean electrolyte stream from said electrowinning circuit to said conditioning means.
- 13. A system for recovering copper from a copper-containing material comprising:
means for reacting a copper-containing material stream with a copper-containing lean electrolyte stream to produce an inlet stream comprising a copper-bearing precipitate and acid; means for leaching at least a portion of said inlet stream to produce a product slurry comprising a copper-containing solution and a residue; means for conditioning said product slurry without the use of solvent extraction techniques to produce a copper-containing solution acceptable for electrowinning; and means for electrowinning copper from said copper-containing solution to produce a cathode copper product.
- 14. The system of claim 13 further comprising means for separating at least a portion of said solid copper-bearing precipitate from said acid to yield a concentrated inlet stream.
- 15. The system of claim 13 wherein said leaching means is suitable for leaching at least a portion of said inlet stream in an oxidizing environment at a temperature of from about 100° C. to about 250° C. and at a pressure of from about 50 to about 750 psi.
- 16. The system of claim 13 wherein said reacting means is suitable for reacting at least a portion of said copper-containing material stream with at least a portion of said copper-containing lean electrolyte stream in the presence of sulfur dioxide, whereby at least a portion of said copper in said copper-containing lean electrolyte stream precipitates as copper sulfide onto at least a portion of the copper-containing material in said copper-containing material stream.
- 17. The system of claim 13 wherein said means for conditioning said product slurry comprises a liquid-solid separation circuit adapted to separate at least a portion of said copper-containing solution in said product slurry from said residue in said product slurry to yield a copper-containing solution suitable for electrowinning.
- 18. The system of claim 13 wherein said means for conditioning said product slurry comprises means for controlling the copper concentration of said copper-containing solution whereby the copper concentration of said copper-containing solution entering said electrowinning circuit is maintained at a level of about 40 grams/liter.
- 19. The system of claim 1 wherein said means for conditioning said product slurry comprises means for blending at least a portion of said copper-containing solution with at least a portion of one or more copper-containing streams to achieve a desired copper concentration in said copper-containing solution.
- 20. The system of claim 13 further comprising means for recycling at least a portion of said copper-containing lean electrolyte stream from said electrowinning means to said reacting means, and means for recycling at least a portion of said copper-containing lean electrolyte stream from said electrowinning means to said conditioning means.
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 10/238,399, filed on Sep. 9, 2002, which is a continuation of U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 09/912,921, which was filed on Jul. 5, 2001 and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,451,089 on Sep. 17, 2002, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein.
Continuations (2)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
10238399 |
Sep 2002 |
US |
Child |
10737420 |
Dec 2003 |
US |
Parent |
09912921 |
Jul 2001 |
US |
Child |
10238399 |
Sep 2002 |
US |