Method and device for recovering metal

Abstract

The present application provides a method for recovering metal from metal-containing material by leaching, the method comprising providing aqueous solution containing leaching agent precursor, providing one or more source(s) of external energy comprising a source of electric current connected to one or more non-metallic electrode(s) comprising carbon material(s) selected from graphite, graphene and derivatives thereof, and carbon nanomaterial(s) selected from carbon nanofibers, carbon nanotubes and carbon nanobuds, treating the aqueous solution with the external energy, which is electric current providing electrochemical reactions, to form hydrogen peroxide from oxygen in the aqueous solution, reacting the leaching agent precursor with the formed hydrogen peroxide to form a leaching agent and to obtain a leaching solution, providing metal-containing material, reacting the metal-containing material with the leaching solution to obtain soluble metal complexes, and recovering the soluble metal complexes. The present application also discloses a device for recovering metal from metal-containing material by leaching.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.