Effect of Mechanical Activation on Recovery and Leaching Kinetics of Copper From Reverberatory Furnace Slags

ABSTRACT Mechanical activation (MA) has been widely used to enhance the leaching efficiency of copper‐bearing wastes by modifying their physicochemical properties. In this study, the effect of mechanical activation on copper recovery from reverberatory furnace slag was systematically investigated through sulfuric acid leaching. The influence of key parameters, including temperature, particle size, mechanical activation time, oxidant addition, and acid concentration, was evaluated. The results demonstrated that up to nearly 100% copper recovery was achieved under optimized conditions (5 h mechanical activation, 3.6 M H 2 SO 4 , 343 K, particle size of 110 µm). Kinetic analysis was performed using the shrinking core model. The linear relationships obtained from F(x)–t and ln k–ln d plots indicate that diffusion through the residual ash layer governs the leaching process. The apparent activation energy was determined to be 17.4 kJ·mol − 1 , which is consistent with a diffusion‐controlled mechanism.