Molybdenum removal from copper ore concentrate by sodium hypochlorite leaching

The removal of molybdenum from a copper ore concentrate by sodium hypochlorite leaching was investigated. The results show that leaching time,liquid to solid ratio,leaching temperature,agitation speed,and sodium hypochlorite and sodium hydroxide concentrations all have a significant effect on the removal of molybdenum.The optimum process operating parameters were found to be:time,4 h;sodium hydroxide concentration,10%;sodium hypochlorite concentration,8%;liquid to solid ratio,10:1;temperature,50℃;and, agitation speed,500 r/min.Under these conditions the extraction of molybdenum is greater than 99,9%and the extraction of copper is less than 0.01%.A shrinking particle model could be used to describe the leaching process.The apparent activation energy of the dissolution reaction was found to be approximately 8.8 kJ/mol.