Solvent extraction of copper with dilution of the organic phase
AssigneesMetallurgical Processes Limited, I.S.C. Smelting Limited of London
InventorWilliam Hopkin
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Abstract
A method of extracting copper from an aqueous ammoniacal leach solution which is derived from the leaching of copper dross and which contains impurity cations, comprising contacting the leach solution with a copper-selective organic phase to take copper into the organic phase and then stripping the copper from the organic phase into an aqueous phase, the organic phase being washed with a dilute acid before stripping, wherein before the organic phase is washed with the dilute acid the concentration of copper in the organic phase is reduced below a level at which poor phase separation occurs under acid conditions.
Claims4
In a method of extracting copper from an aqueous ammoniacal leach solution which is derived from the leaching of copper dross and which contains impurity cations, comprising contacting the leach solution with a copper-selective organic phase comprising a copper selective hydroxy-oxime organic extractant in an organic diluent to take copper into the organic phase to form a highly loaded copper organic phase, washing the highly loaded copper organic phase with a dilute acid and stripping the copper from the washed highly loaded copper organic phase into an aqueous phase, the improvement comprising reducing the concentration of copper in the copper-loaded organic phase by from 5% to 20% before the highly loaded copper organic phase is washed with the dilute acid.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.