The Leaching of Domestic Celestite and Baryt Concentrates in Sodium Carbonate Solution

Authors: İsmail DEMİRKAYA, Ercan AÇMA

Abstract: The leaching conditions of domestic celestite and barite concentrates in Na2CO3 solution were investigated in this study. Celestite and barite were leached n an open vessel and in an autoclave, respectively. The effect of temperature, leaching period, mixing rate, particle size, amount of Na2CO3 on the leaching efficiency were investigated experimetally. It was determined that celestite could be leached by addition of 5 times stoichiometric amonut (577.3 g Na2CO3/ kg celestite conc.) of Na2CO3in 150 min. period at 70 ^0C for-100 mesh particle size with 800 rpm mixing rate. On the other hand, 170 ^0C temperature, 75 min leaching period, 800 rpm mixing rate, 5 times stoichiometric amount (454 g Na2CO3/kg barite conc.) of Na2CO3, -200 mesh particle size and 0.78 Mpa pressure were the optimal leaching parameters of baryt. Under the optimal conditions, the dissolution kinetic and model were investigated. It was founded that the soda leaching of both concentrates were diffussion controlling according to CRANK-GÜNSTLÜNG and BROUNSHTEIN model.

Keywords: Celestite, Barite, Soda leaching, Strontium carbonate, Barium carbonate