Method for recovering an acid or base
AssigneePaladin Intellectual Property Pty Ltd
InventorsPaul Boshoff, Merrill Ford, Shana McDougall, Mark Peacock
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Disclosed herein is a method for recovering an acid or a base during a metal extraction process. The method comprises contacting a feed stream comprising the acid or base and the metal with an ultrafiltration membrane to produce an ultrafiltration retentate and an ultrafiltration permeate, and contacting the ultrafiltration permeate with a nanofiltration membrane. The nanofiltration retentate produced comprises a majority of the metal from the feed stream, and the nanofiltration permeate produced comprises a majority of the acid or base from the feed stream. Also disclosed herein is a recovery apparatus for recovering an acid or a base during a metal extraction process.
Claims15
A method for recovering sulphuric acid or a base selected from sodium carbonate and/or sodium bicarbonate, and optionally sodium hydroxide, and dissolved uranium compound during a uranium extraction process, the method comprising:
- subjecting a feed stream comprising the sulphuric acid or base and the dissolved uranium compound to a solids removal stage to extract detrimental solids therefrom, before contacting the feed stream with a cross-flow configuration ultrafiltration membrane plant to produce an ultrafiltration retentate and an ultrafiltration permeate;
- and
- feeding the ultrafiltration permeate directly from the ultrafiltration membrane plant to a nanofiltration feed tank and feeding the ultrafiltration permeate directly from the nanofiltration feed tank to a nanofiltration membrane plant configured in a tapered array to produce a concentrated nanofiltration retentate comprising a majority of the dissolved uranium compound from the feed stream, and a nanofiltration permeate comprising a majority of the sulphuric acid or base from the feed stream.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.