Abstract:The leaching kinetics of selenium from copper anode slimes was studied in a nitric acid-sulfuric acid mixture. The effects of main parameters on selenium leaching showed that the leaching rate of selenium was practically independent of stirring speed, while dependent on temperature and the concentrations of HNO3 and H2SO4. The leaching of selenium includes two stages. The activation energy in the first stage is 103.5 kJ/mol, and the chemical reaction is the rate controlling step. It was almost independent of H2SO4 concentration and dependent on HNO3 concentration since the empirical reaction order with respect to HNO3 concentration is 0.5613. In the second stage, the activation energy is 30.6 kJ/mol, and the process is controlled by a mixture of diffusion and chemical reaction. The leaching of selenium was almost independent of HNO3 concentration.

Key words: selenium; kinetics; acid leaching; copper anode slimes