Electrolytic dissolution of sphalerite concentrate in hydrochloric acid

Potentiodynamic studies on Sphalerite compact electrode containing 30% graphite and 10% pitch have been carried out in hydrochloric acid of different concentration. The open circuit voltage varies from 0.240 V to 0.380 V. The dissolution current does not vary with increase of acid concentration upto 1.5 N under various scan rates though "i" dissolution increases with scan rate for a given acid concentration. The cyclic voltammogram indicates that the main oxidative product is sulphur and there is no formation of sulphate as in the case of sulphuric acid medium