Hot acid leaching of Zircon

In the mineral sands industry, hot acid leaching is used for the purification of Zircon by removing iron oxide stains from the surface of Zircon grains in order to produce the product of better quality. There may be four operating parameters for hot acid leaching, namely, operating temperatures, residence time, acid concentration and agitation of the reactor. This paper presents the results of tests carried out to determine a set of optimal operating conditions of the above parameters which can be used for the design of a hot acid leach plant.