Effects of microwave pretreatment on zinc extraction from spent catalyst saturated with zinc acetate

A new technology for microwave pretreatment of spent catalyst on Zn extraction by HCl leaching was proposed and the temperature-change curve of spent catalyst under microwave irradiation was measured. The influence of microwave pretreatment temperature and microwave irradiation time on zinc extraction was investigated and the mechanism of microwave pretreatment for spent catalyst was analyzed. The results show that microwave pretreatment can greatly enhance the leaching rate of Zn. The Zn extraction reaches 96.58% under the conditions of microwave pretreatment temperature of 950 °C and the microwave irradiation time of 12 min. The blocked pores of spent catalyst can be opened through microwave pretreatment, increasing the contact area of leaching reagent and zinc.