Hydrométallurgie du cuivre - Grillage – Lixiviation – SX – Electro-extraction

This book provides a comprehensive and practice-oriented treatment of copper hydrometallurgy, focusing on the integrated sequence of roasting, leaching, solvent extraction (SX), and electrowinning (electro-extraction). After outlining the properties, resources, reserves, production, and industrial uses of copper, the authors compare hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical routes, emphasizing the technological challenges that motivate the wider adoption of aqueous processing. The work examines in detail the roasting of sulfide ores and concentrates, including reaction mechanisms, secondary gas and solid-phase reactions, operating parameters, selective roasting for impurity removal, and industrial furnace configurations such as fixed-bed, multiple-hearth, suspension, and fluidized-bed roasters. The leaching section covers acidic, basic, saline, bacterial, and pressure leaching systems, with particular attention to chalcopyrite and other key copper minerals, as well as heap, vat, in situ, and dump leaching practices and emerging rapid oxidative leaching technologies. Subsequent chapters address physical purification of pulps and solutions (classification, thickening, and filtration), iron removal strategies, and the role of SX–electrowinning in producing high-purity cathode copper. Combining theoretical foundations, reaction chemistry, process parameters, industrial case descriptions, and design considerations, the book serves as a technical reference for engineers, practitioners, and students engaged in non-ferrous extractive metallurgy and the optimization of modern copper production flowsheets.