The effects of tetrachloroethylene (C2Cl4) on sphalerite leaching in FeCl3-HCl were investigated in view of simultaneous mass transfer and reaction, and the leaching models with and without organic solvent C2Cl4 were derived. The leaching experiments and the SEM results show that C2Cl4 is an effective organic solvent for sphalerite leaching in FeCl3-HCl system to be accelerated and for the sulfur to be separated. Adding C2Cl4 in the FeCl3-HCl medium will turn the kinetic model controlled by sulfur layer diffusion with process activation energy of 67.9 kJ/mol into mixed diffusion with the energy reduced to 55.1 kJ/mol when 20 ml of C2Cl4 was added
