Kinetics of Reductive Acid Leaching of Cadmium-Bearing Zinc Ferrite Mixture Using Hydrazine Sulfate

The reductive acid leaching kinetics of synthetic cadmium-bearing zinc ferrite was investigated, and the influence of reaction temperature, sulfuric acid and hydrazine sulfate were studied. The results illustrated that an increase in the reaction temperature, initial sulfuric acid and hydrazine sulfate significantly enhanced the extraction efficiencies of cadmium, zinc and iron. The leaching kinetics were controlled by a surface chemical reaction based on a shrinking core model. The empirical equation $$ 1 - (1 - X)^{{{\raise0.7ex\hbox{$1$} \!\mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {1 3}}\right.\kern-0pt} \!\lower0.7ex\hbox{$3$}}}} = k_{\text{r}} t $$ applied was found to fit well with the kinetics analysis; the leaching processes of cadmium, zinc and iron were similar and the activation energies were 79.9 kJ/mol, 77.9 kJ/mol and 79.7 kJ/mol, respectively. The apparent orders of cadmium-bearing zinc ferrite dissolution with respect to sulfuric acid concentration were 0.83, 0.83 and 0.84 for Cd, Zn and Fe, respectively.