Recovery of Metallic Values from Brass Waste Using Brønsted Acidic Ionic Liquid as Leachate

The waste formed during industrial brass manufacturing is rich in copper and zinc metals. Therefore, treatment of this waste is a necessity from economic and environmental aspects. This study presents a process for recovery of zinc and copper through Brønsted ionic liquid (1-butyl-3-methyl-imidazolium hydrogen sulfate; [Bmim]HSO4), as leachate. It was found that all zinc content could be dissolved from the waste under two optimum conditions: (1) in ionic liquid (IL) concentration of 70% (v/v) at 60°C in 30 min or (2) in IL concentration of 50% (v/v) at 100°C in 60 min. On the other hand, ionic liquid leaching gave poor copper solubility under the conditions of the study. Zinc dissolution in the range 5–75 min by [Bmim]HSO4 can be explained with the shrinking core model controlled by diffusion through a product layer, and the apparent activation energy was calculated as 4.36 kJ/mol. The leach liquor was treated to obtain metallic zinc by the electrowinning method without a purification step. Scanning electron microscopy/energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDX) investigations showed that the layer of metallic zinc was plated successfully on the cathode.