Kaluga Branch of Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Kaluga, Russia:

I. V. Fedoseev, Professor of a Chemistry Chair, e-mail: fn6-kf@bmstu-kaluga.ru
V. V. Maksimov, Assistant of a Chemistry Chair

As an alternative to copper electrolytic refining may serveits chemical purification from solutions with subsequent production of copper powder under the action of reducer. The method of copper powder autoclave deposition from solutions under the action of H₂ and CO with its subsequent conversion into rolled metal have been applied on industrial scale. Rolled metal production requires reasonable investments and has low operating costs. Outotec Hydro Copper offered technological variant of production of pure copper in the form of powder from copper sulphide ores and concentrates. The process has 4 main stages:
- dissolution of ore or concentrate in NaCl strong solution in the presence of oxygen with conversion of copper into solution in the form of chlorine complex [CuCl₂]^–.
- purification of the produced sulphate chloride solution includes: removal of sulphate ions, Cu (II) ions, Ag, Zn, Ni and some other by chemical methods; purification of the solution by ion-exchange rezins.
- deposition of Cu₂O under the action of NaOH solution and production of copper powder under the action of hydrogen on Cu₂O at 650–850 ^oC.
Was offered the technology of direct isolation of copper from multicomponent sulphate-chloride solutions under the action of CO or process gases containing carbon monoxide under atmospheric pressure and t = 20–95 ^oC in the presence of catalyst – Pd (II) chloride. The reduction rate of recovery Cu (II) to Cu (I) may approach ~1% per minute when applying pure CO. The reduction process also proceeds when process gases containing CO-air generative converted water methane are applied. In this case copper reduction rate will be 0.6–0.9% per minute and the level of reduction will be 98%. Copper chloride isolated from multicomponent has high purity. Сonversion of CuCl precipitate into copper has some technological variants of Cu (II) to Cu (I) recovery: direct reduction by hydrogen, conversion of CuCl into Cu₂O by hydrolytic decomposition in alkaline media and its further reduction by converted methane; hydrometallurgical process of disproportionation of Cu₂O into H₂SO₄. The process proceeds quickly and results in additional purification of copper. Solution of CuSO₄ may be converted into by iterative hydrocarbonylization or by electrolysis with insoluble anode.

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