A study on copper ferrite dissolution in sulphuric acid.

In this research, dissolution of the synthesized copper ferrite in aqueous sulphuric acid was investigated where temperatures were varied from 323 K to 343 K, sulphuric acid concentration from 1 M to 3 M and experiment was done using a rotating disc system Effects of Fe3+, Fe2+ and SO42-were also studied. The experimental results have shown that, in the initial period of dissolution, rate of copper was greater than one of iron, leaving Fe203layer outside, and therefore, non stoichiometric dissolution of copper and iron. After long time of dissolution period, the stoichiometric dissolution of copper and iron was shown to be attained as described as follows: CuFe2O4+8H+=Cu++2Fe3++4H2OIncreases of temperature and acid concentration both lead to increase in dissolution rate of copper ferrite. However, increases in any of Fe3+, Fe2+ or SO42-decreased the dissolution rate, that has been discussed due to the decrease of hydrogen ion activity.