Abstract

A two-step recovery method was developed to produce copper powders from copper chloride waste solution as byproducts of MoO_3 leaching process. The first step consisted of replacing noble copper ions with external Fe3+ ions which were formed by dissolving iron scraps in the copper chloride waste solution. The replaced copper ions were subsequently precipitated as copper powders. The second step was cementation of entire solution mixture to separate (pure) copper powders from aqueous solution of iron chloride. Cementation process variables of temperature, time, and added amount of iron scraps were optimized by using design of experiment method and individual effects on yield and efficiency of copper powder recovery were investigated. Copper powders thus obtained from cementation process were further characterized using various analytical tools such as XRD, SEM-EDS and laser diffraction and scattering methods.Cementation process necessitated further purification of recovered copper powders and centrifugal separation method was employed, which successfully yielded copper powders of more than 99% purity and average 1sim2mum in size.

• Keywords: Recovery;MoO_3 leaching solution;Copper powder;Cementation;