Process for separating tungsten from coinage metals
AssigneeGTE Laboratories Incorporated
InventorsSamuel Natansohn, Gary Czupryna
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A process for cleanly separating tungsten and the coinage metals from alloys or mixtures thereof comprises electrowinning the coinage metal from an electrolyte solution which is maintained substantially free of tungsten contamination by contacting the electrolyte solution with an organic extractant to remove the tungsten. A preferred extractant solution comprises a quaternary alkyl ammonium salt or quaternary alkyl phosphonium salt dissolved in an inert organic solvent.
Claims8
A process for separately recovering tungsten and a coinage metal from alloys or mixtures thereof comprising electrowinning said coinage metal from an aqueous nitrate electrolyte solution contained in an electrowinning cell having an anode, comprising said alloy or mixture of tungsten and a coinage metal, and a cathode;
- wherein the electrolyte solution is maintained essentially free of dissolved tungsten by contacting, in a chamber separate from said electrowinning cell, said electrolyte solution with an organic extractant solution comprising an inert solvent and a quaternary alkylammonium salt or a quaternary alkylphosphonium salt to selectively remove a portion of the tungsten from said electrolyte solution and to deposit said coinage metal at the cathode of said electrowinning cell in a form substantially free of tungsten contamination;
- and separately recovering said selectively removed portion of tungsten from said organic extractant solution.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.