Abstract
In this study the leaching of CuO particles by glycine, an environmentally friendly leachant, was investigated under different conditions. It was found that the variation of glycine and NaOH concentrations as well as CuO loading influenced slightly the dissolution of CuO while temperature, the volume of solution and the nature of stirring impacted greatly the dissolution process. Magnetic and mechanical stirring registered inverse effects. In fact, increasing the volume of solution from 105 to 405 mL decreased the dissolution of CuO from 100% to 26.2% registered after 180 min respectively under magnetic stirring, while it increased from 43.5% to 91.7% respectively under the same conditions with mechanical stirring. Thus, the nature of stirring is a crucial parameter that may radically change the dissolution results. The dissolution was found to be controlled by chemical reaction