Mining, Minerals Processing and Metallurgical Engineering

Enhancement of rust leaching by frame blades and its mechanisms

Expand
  • Key Laboratory of Ecological Metallurgy of Multi-metal Intergrown Ores of Ministry of Education, Special Metallurgy and Process Engineering Institute, School of Metallurgy, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China

Online published: 2025-12-16

Abstract

Frame blades were used to replace traditional propeller blades to enhance the leaching step efficiency of Becher process. A combined approach of leaching, electrochemical experiments, and numerical simulations was employed. Results demonstrate a significant improvement in leaching efficiency using frame blades compared to propellers, reducing reaction time from 15 to 10 h. Even at a stirring speed of 300 r/min, frame blades perform better than propellers at 500 r/min. Kinetics analysis indicates that the leaching process is controlled by surface chemical reactions. CFD−PBM simulations reveal that frame blades at 300 r/min generate larger bubbles and higher turbulent kinetic energy than propeller blades at 500 r/min. Frame blades enhance leaching efficiency by refining bubble size to improve oxygen mass transfer and by increasing turbulent kinetic energy for better mixing.

Cite this article

Lei ZHOU, Qiu-yue ZHAO, Guo-zhi LV, Zhi-he DOU, Ting-an ZHANG . Enhancement of rust leaching by frame blades and its mechanisms[J]. Transactions of Nonferrous Metals Society of China, 2025 , 35(11) : 3949 -3960 . DOI: 10.1016/S1003-6326(25)66923-8

Outlines

/