Oxidative Dissolution Process of Sphalerite in Fe2(SO4)3-O3 System: Implications for Heavy Metals Removal and Recovery

Metal sulfides in waste rocks and tailings are susceptible to serious soil and water contamination due to the generation of acid mine drainage (AMD) during stockpiling. The hydrometallurgical process is one of the most essential heavy metal remediation technologies through harmless disposal and resource utilization of the waste sulfides. However, atmospheric hydrometallurgy of sulfides still faces great challenges due to low leaching efficiency and high cost. In this work, we proposed a cooperative leaching system (Fe2(SO4)3-O3) and investigated the oxidative dissolution process of sphalerite (ZnS). Under the optimal conditions, the extracted zinc reached 97.8%. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) (·OH, 1O2 and ·O2−) were identified in the radical quenching experiments. The dissolution of sphalerite did not show passivation due to the ozone’s capability to oxidize the sulfur in sphalerite to sulfate. In addition, stirring rate, O3 inlet concentration, and Fe2(SO4)3 concentration had a significant effect on the dissolution of sphalerite. Meanwhile, the apparent activation energy was 24.11 kJ/mol based on kinetic fitting, which indicated that the controlling step of the reaction was mainly a diffusion process. This work demonstrated the cooperative effect of sphalerite leaching in the O3-Fe2(SO4)3 system and provided a theoretical reference for efficient and atmospheric dissolution of sphalerite.