The recovery prediction of Zn and Pb from cerussite leaching using the fluoroboric acid by gene expression programming

ABSTRACT

Predicting the recoveries of lead and zinc during the leaching process is necessary to evaluate the effect of various parameters on the process efficiency which is possible using appropriate modeling and simulation. Firstly, the dissolution of lead and zinc using fluoroboric acid from cerussite concentrate by hydrometallurgical method was evaluated in order to reduce the disadvantages of the pyrometallurgical methods. Then, new predictive models based on gene expression programming (GEP) were developed to predict the recoveries of lead and zinc. The results indicate the sufficiency of the GEP models in predicting the recoveries of lead and zinc during the process.

KEYWORDS:

• Cerussite concentrate
• Hydrometallurgy method
• Fluoroboric acid
• Prediction
• Gene expression programming