Method and article of manufacture for solvent extraction operation

A method to alter an amount of organic material loss in a solvent extraction unit, the method comprising the steps of:

• calculating a velocity profile of an aqueous phase;
• calculating a velocity profile of an organic phase;
• calculating an interfacial shear stress using the velocity profile of the aqueous phase and the velocity profile of the organic phase;
• estimating an amount of organic material entrained in the aqueous phase based on a calculated interfacial shear stress;
• determining a target amount of organic material entrained in the aqueous phase;
• and
• manipulating at least one process condition of the solvent extraction unit to obtain the target amount of organic material entrained in the aqueous phase.

A method for manipulating an amount of organic material entrained in an aqueous phase of a solvent extraction unit, the method comprising the steps of:

• providing a computational model for estimating an amount of organic material entrained in an aqueous phase of a solvent extraction unit as a function of an interfacial shear stress between an organic phase and the aqueous phase;
• using the computational model to estimate a target amount of organic material entrained in the aqueous phase;
• selecting one or more process parameters to manipulate the amount of organic material entrained in the aqueous phase;
• and
• adjusting the one or more process parameters to manipulate the amount of organic material entrained in the aqueous phase of the solvent extraction unit,
• wherein the step of using comprises obtaining a correlation between a plurality of estimated interfacial shear stress values and a plurality of measured values of organic material entrained in the aqueous phase.