EXPERIMENTAL DATA ON SORPTION OF COPPER BY VARIOUS MINERALS AND ORGANIC SORBING AGENTS

Experimental data on copper sorption by organic and mineral sorbing agents have shown that sorption can take place from very dilute solutions. The degree of sorption depends on the total amount of dissolved copper in solution, the velocity of the circulating solution, on the duration of contact between the sorbent and fresh solutions, and on the degree of diffusion of the solution within the sorbent. Organic matter, namely pine loam, peat, lignite, and humic acid, absorbs copper from very dilute solutions (from 2x10^-4 to 2x10^-5 grams per liter copper concentrations, 2.5 to 4.5 percent); other sorbents, namely; sand, kaolin, feldspar, and quartz, absorb one-tenth as much as the organic sorbents. Desorption is very slight in organic material; it is almost complete in mineral sorbents. It is believed that sorption plays a very significant part in the formation of sedimentary copper deposits, particularly in the copper sandstones of the Urals.