Exploration of the mechanism of rhodium(III) co-precipitation with copper sulfide (at low rhodium concentrations) incorporating the cationic substitution reaction path

Includes abstract. === Includes bibliographical references. === This study is a preliminary investigation into the mechanism and kinetics of Rh3+ coprecipitation with CuS upon aqueous thiosulphate addition to acidic base metal sulphate solutions, where Rh3+ concentration is two orders of magnitude l...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: McGeorge, Barry
Other Authors: Lewis, Alison Emslie
Format: Dissertation
Language:English
Published: University of Cape Town 2014
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/11427/5442
Description
Summary:Includes abstract. === Includes bibliographical references. === This study is a preliminary investigation into the mechanism and kinetics of Rh3+ coprecipitation with CuS upon aqueous thiosulphate addition to acidic base metal sulphate solutions, where Rh3+ concentration is two orders of magnitude lower than Cu2+, over 50 - 150 °C. The heterogeneous cationic substitution has been identified as a new precipitation path in metal sulfide co-precipitation, namely, the reaction between more soluble, co-precipitated metal sulphide (CuS) and the less soluble cation in solution (Rh3+), with the large KSP difference providing the chemical driving force.