Abstract
In the leaching of braunite in water, saturated with sulphur dioxide, it was observed that the leaching rate increases with increasing temperature, leaching time and stirring speed, and with decreasing solid-to-liquid ratio and particle size. The optimum conditions for leaching braunite using water, saturated with SO
2, are temperature: 358 K, leaching time: 150 min, particle size: 80 μm, solid-to-liquid ratio: 0.01 g ml
−1, and stirring speed: 4500 min
−1. The leaching kinetic parameters were the activation energy 65.3 kJ mol
−1, the pre-exponential factor; 4.51×10
12 min
−1, and rate constant 1.28×10
2 min
−2.