US 2022/0410175 A1Published application

Release agent for improved removal of valuable material from the surface of an engineered collection media

AssigneesCidra Corporate Services Inc., BYK-Chemie GmbH

InventorsGuillaume JAUNKY, Wolfgang GRIESEL, Allison GREENE, Michael D. COPPOLA, Kevin LASSILA, Michael RYAN, Paul DOLAN, Mark R. FERNALD, Paul J. ROTHMAN

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Abstract

An apparatus for removing mineral particles from loaded engineered collection media includes one or more solvents with sufficiently low surface tension. The engineered collection media are made of a synthetic material and have a surface coated with a hydrophobic material to provide a chemical bond between the mineral particles and the surface. The solvents together with a releasing mechanism are arranged to disrupt the chemical bond. Preferably, a surfactant or a nonionic surfactant is also added to the solvents.

Claims20

Dependent claims

An apparatus, comprising:

a body having an upper portion and a lower portion;
a first input configured to receive loaded engineering media;
a second input configured to receive a releasing agent;
a first output located on the upper portion configured to discharge recovered engineering media;
and
a second output located on the lower portion configured to discharge a concentrate, wherein the loaded engineered media comprise engineered media, each of the engineered media made of a synthetic material having a surface functionalized to attract mineral particles to the surface, and the releasing agent is arranged to remove the mineral particles from the surface to provide the recovered engineering media, and the concentrate comprises the mineral particles, and wherein the releasing agent comprises a chemical solvent and a surfactant.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.