title: Comparison of ultrasonic-assisted and regular leaching of germanium from by-product of zinc metallurgy.
abstract: A major source of germanium recovery and also the source of this research is the by-product of lead and zinc metallurgical process. The primary purpose of the research is to investigate the effects of ultrasonic assisted and regular methods on the leaching yield of germanium from roasted slag containing germanium. In the study, the HCl-CaCl2 mixed solution is adopted as the reacting system and the Ca(ClO)2 used as the oxidant. Through six single factor (leaching time, temperature, amount of Ca(ClO)2, acid concentration, concentration of CaCl2 solution, ultrasonic power) experiments and the comparison of the two methods, it is found the optimum collective of germanium for ultrasonic-assisted method is obtained at temperature 80 °C for a leaching duration of 40 min. The optimum concentration for hydrochloric acid, CaCl2 and oxidizing agent are identified to be 3.5 mol/L, 150 g/L and 58.33 g/L, respectively. In addition, 700 W is the best ultrasonic power and an over-high power is adverse in the leaching process. Under the optimum condition, the recovery of germanium could reach up to 92.7%. While, the optimum leaching condition for regular leaching method is same to ultrasonic-assisted method, except regular method consume 100 min and the leaching rate of Ge 88.35% is lower about 4.35%. All in all, the experiment manifests that the leaching time can be reduced by as much as 60% and the leaching rate of Ge can be increased by 3-5% with the application of ultrasonic tool, which is mainly thanks to the mechanical action of ultrasonic.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Complex Nonferrous Metal Resources Clean Utilization, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, Yunnan 650093, China; National Local Joint Laboratory of Engineering Application of Microwave Energy and Equipment Technology, Kunming, Yunnan 650093, China; Key Laboratory of Unconventional Metallurgy, Ministry of Education, Kunming 650093, China; Faculty of Metallurgical and Energy Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650093, China.
authors.forename: Libo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Complex Nonferrous Metal Resources Clean Utilization, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, Yunnan 650093, China; National Local Joint Laboratory of Engineering Application of Microwave Energy and Equipment Technology, Kunming, Yunnan 650093, China; Key Laboratory of Unconventional Metallurgy, Ministry of Education, Kunming 650093, China; Faculty of Metallurgical and Energy Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650093, China.
authors.forename: Wenqian
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Complex Nonferrous Metal Resources Clean Utilization, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, Yunnan 650093, China; National Local Joint Laboratory of Engineering Application of Microwave Energy and Equipment Technology, Kunming, Yunnan 650093, China; Key Laboratory of Unconventional Metallurgy, Ministry of Education, Kunming 650093, China; Faculty of Metallurgical and Energy Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650093, China.
authors.forename: Jinhui
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Complex Nonferrous Metal Resources Clean Utilization, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, Yunnan 650093, China; National Local Joint Laboratory of Engineering Application of Microwave Energy and Equipment Technology, Kunming, Yunnan 650093, China; Key Laboratory of Unconventional Metallurgy, Ministry of Education, Kunming 650093, China; Faculty of Metallurgical and Energy Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650093, China. Electronic address: lijingkind@163.com.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Complex Nonferrous Metal Resources Clean Utilization, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, Yunnan 650093, China; National Local Joint Laboratory of Engineering Application of Microwave Energy and Equipment Technology, Kunming, Yunnan 650093, China; Key Laboratory of Unconventional Metallurgy, Ministry of Education, Kunming 650093, China; Faculty of Metallurgical and Energy Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650093, China.
authors.forename: Guo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Complex Nonferrous Metal Resources Clean Utilization, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, Yunnan 650093, China; National Local Joint Laboratory of Engineering Application of Microwave Energy and Equipment Technology, Kunming, Yunnan 650093, China; Key Laboratory of Unconventional Metallurgy, Ministry of Education, Kunming 650093, China; Faculty of Metallurgical and Energy Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650093, China.
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yu
keywords: Hydrolysis reaction; Regular method; Saturated solubility of GeCl(4); Ultrasonic-assisted leaching