Abstract
The sulphatization of zinc concentrate produced from heated zinc concentrate of Um Ghieg area, eastern desert by ammonium sulphate as sulphatizing agent is carried out at different conditions to achieve the appreciable formation of soluble sulphates. The maximum zinc recovery as soluble sulphate equals to 95% upon using 1.5 stoichiometry ammonium sulphate at 600 deg C for one hour. The obtained leached zinc sulphate solution is subjected to purification process to prepare high pure zinc metal and zinc compounds such as pure zinc sulphate, zinc carbonate and zinc oxide. The products obtained are analyzed chemically and identified by X-ray analysis. The mechanism and kinetics of the sulphatization process of zinc concentrate are considered where the activation energy is calculated and equals to 33.3 K.J.mol exp -1 . A process flowsheet for the overall sulphatization process of zinc concentrate by ammonium sulphate is proposed.