Selective Separation of Arsenic from Arsenic-bearing Copper Dust by Vulcanization Reduction

Abstract Arsenic is removed from arsenic-bearing copper dust by vulcanizing reduction. Vulcanizing reduction conditions and kinetics of arsenic volatilization are studied. Different temperatures, sulfur additions and vulcanizing reduction times are studied to obtain the conditions of separating arsenic from arsenic-bearing copper dust. Arsenic was selectively removed with a volatilization rate of 94.54% under the conditions of temperature of 400°C, sulfur addition of 10wt% and 60min vulcanizing reduction time. Arsenic was prepared to As2O3with a purity of 95.3% which can be used as raw material to prepare elemental arsenic. The kinetic study showed that the process of arsenic volatilization conformed to the SCM model; the arsenic volatilization process was controlled by diffusion control in the first 60 minutes and switched to chemical reaction in the 70-120 minutes.