Selective recovery of zinc from zinc oxide dust using choline chloride based deep eutectic solvents

• Published in: Transactions of Nonferrous Metals Society of China Vol. 29; no. 10; pp. 2222 - 2228
• Main Authors: ZHU, Xiao-lin, XU, Cun-ying, TANG, Jie, HUA, Yi-xin, ZHANG, Qi-bo, LIU, Hai, WANG, Xiang, HUANG, Meng-ting
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2019
• Subjects: deep eutectic solvent; direct electrodeposition; selective leaching; zinc; zinc oxide dust; deep eutectic solvent; selective leaching; direct electrodeposition; zinc oxide dust; zinc
• ISSN: 1003-6326
• DOI: 10.1016/S1003-6326(19)65128-9

Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are a kind of potential lixiviant for selective metal processing due to their versatile complexation properties. In this study, we investigated the recovery of zinc from zinc oxide dust using choline chloride−urea− ethylene glycol (ChCl−urea−EG) DESs. The zinc extraction efficiency can be up to 85.2% when the slurry concentration is 50 g/L, leaching temperature is 80 °C and stirring speed is 600 r/min. The leaching process is controlled by the diffusion and the corresponding activation energy is 32.1 kJ/mol. The resultant solution was directly used for the electrodeposition of zinc. The pure zinc deposit is obtained with a current efficiency of 82.6%. Furthermore, the ChCl−urea−EG DESs can be recycled. This approach is shown to be promising for the recycling of zinc from the zinc-containing dust.