Electroleaching of Copper Waste with Recovery of Copper by Electrodialysis

A new process to leach and recover copper from solid waste using electric fields was designed. The leaching with electro migration is presented as an alternative to traditional leaching. Preliminary data indicate that the copper ion migration is facilitated by using the electrical potential difference; therefore applying a potential difference in the processes of leaching facilitates the removal of copper. This is especially useful when mineral concentrations are very low. Different phenomena associated with transport of copper in solution are studied to generate a model able predict the state of the copper ion concentration in time. A kinetic model for the process was developed and fitted very well the experimental data.