Phosphorus removal from high-phosphorus rhodochrosite acidic leach solution

Phosphorus from high-phosphorus rhodochrosite affects electrolysis efficiency, leads to excess phosphorus in manganese metal during electrolytic manganese metal, and affects the steel productions performance and quality. Chemical precipitation technology in the presence of removing reagents was studied to remove phosphorus from acidic leach liquor that is produced by sulfuric acid leaching of high-phosphorus rhodochrosite ore. Factors associated with the removal efficiency, including various phosphorus removal reagents, pH, Fe/P molar ratio, and H2O2/Fe molar ratio, were also investigated. Experimental results showed that the removal efficiency of Fenton reagent (Fe2+/H2O2) was higher than Fe2(SO4)3, FeSO4i¤7H2O and H2O2 under the same conditions. Phosphorus removal efficiency over 99.81% was obtained at pH 3~5, Fe/P molar ratio of 2, H2O2/Fe molar ratio of 0.5~1. Phosphorus concentration in mother liquor was changed from 6834 mgi¤L¨C1 to 13.32 mgi¤L¨C1. The mechanism of phosphorus removal by using Fenton reagent is the formation of iron-hydroxy-phosphate and the adsorption of the ferric hydroxyl complexes during precipitating processes.