The oxidation of pyrite at pH 7 in the presence of reducing and nonreducing Fe(III)-chelators

The oxidation rate of pyrite at pH 7, 25°C and at constant partial pressure of oxygen (0.21 and 0.177 atm) was measured in the presence of the Fe(III)-chelators NTA, oxalate, leucine, EDTA, citrate, IDA and the Fe(III)-reductant ascorbic acid. With the exception of leucine and EDTA, non-reducing Fe(III)-chelators increased the oxidation rate relative to the reference state of formation of the Fe(OH)2+ complex at pH 7. The rate increase was proportional to the logarithm of the conditional stability constant of the ligands for the complexation of Fe3+. No effect on the oxidation rate was observed in the presence of EDTA, which shifted the redox potential of the redox couple Fe2+/Fe3+ to a value below that in the absence of any ligand at pH 7. Ascorbic acid decreased the pyrite oxidation rate by a factor of 5 at ascorbic acid concentrations between 10−4 and 10−2 mol L−1. Comparison of the rate constants for the oxidation of ascorbic acid by surface bound Fe(III) in the absence and presence of pyrite shows that the pyrite surface accelerates this reaction by a factor of 10. The oxidation of both pyrite and ascorbic acid is of fractional order with respect to ascorbic acid (HAsc): rpy=0.55 c(HAsc)−0.35 rHAsc=3.6 c(HAsc)0.59. Both the results from experiments with Fe(III)-chelating ligands and the Fe(III)-reductant, suggest a very efficient interference in the electron cycling between Fe(II) and Fe(III) at the pyrite surface. The interference seems to be mainly related to the reductive side of the iron cycling. It is therefore concluded that the electron transfer between ferric iron and pyritic sulfur limits the pyrite oxidation rate at pH 7.