Hydrometallurgical treatment of non-sulfide zinc ore for precipitation of zinc oxide nanoparticles

Acid leaching of Egyptian zinc ore from the Um Gheig area was carried out with sulfuric acid. This study determines the optimum conditions for dissolution of non-sulfide zinc ore. The optimum conditions are 25% -74m particle size, 45 °C temperature, 2 h leaching time, 1.1 stoichiometric molar ratio of H2SO4 to Zn, 1:3 solid/liquid ratio. The maximum filtration rate is 1.6 Mg Zn•m-2•day-1at pressure difference of 0.80 bar. The zinc recovery is about 90%. As the zinc ore contains zinc silicate, some additives were tested to enhance filtration and prevent formation of silica gel. To increase the added value of the product, zinc oxide was precipitated by a co-precipitation method in a nanosize powder with average particle size ~ 20 nm. Photocatalytic degradation of methylene blue dye under UV light using ZnO nanopowders produced at different conditions was investigated. Photocatalytic efficiency with methylene blue (MB) concentration was reduced as much as 85% in 240 min with the produced nanoparticles.