SOLUBILITY OF STIBNITE ORE IN HCL SOLUTIONS

In this study, the dissolution of stibnite, Sb2S3, which is an antimon y ore, in HCl solutions was investigated, taking into consideration th e effect of particle size, acid concentration, stirring speed, solid-t o-liquid ratio, and temperature. It was observed that the dissolution rate increased with increasing temperature and with decreasing particl e size and solid-to-liquid ratio, while no pronounced effect of stirri ng speed was observed. Using the experimental data, we attempted to es tablish a kinetic model for the dissolution of the ore in HCl solution s. Employing graphical and statistical methods, the following kinetic model including the effect of the above choosen parameters was establi shed to represent the dissolution process -In(1 - X) = 9.79 x 10(-10). (D)(-0.908)(C)(10.600)(S/L)(-0.321)e(-6244/T) t, where X is the conve rsion fraction of the mineral, D is the particle size, C the acid conc entration in weight percent, and S/L is the solid-to-liquid ratio in g rams per milliliter. The activation energy for this dissolution proces s was calculated as 52 kJ mol(-1).