Temperature Dependence of the Speciation of Copper and Iron in Acidic Electrolytes

Validated speciation models and revised thermodynamic data have been used to establish the temperature dependence of the concentrations of all the main species in aqueous Cu(II)–H2SO4 and Fe(II)–Fe(III)–H2SO4 solutions in the 25–65°C temperature range. Mathematical relationships have been derived for the temperature dependence of the equilibrium constants for the relevant reactions and also for the species concentrations in a well specified set of conditions. These relationships have been developed in order to use them as components of complex temperature-dependent models in hydrometallurgy, but they are also useful as stand-alone predictors of equilibrium data in the studied systems.