Chemistry of inorganic compounds – Treating mixture to obtain metal containing compound – Radioactive metal
Patent
1981-07-01
1984-05-22
Kyle, Deborah L.
Chemistry of inorganic compounds
Treating mixture to obtain metal containing compound
Radioactive metal
423 54, 423 63, 4236585, C22B 6002, C22B 3422, C22B 3434, B01D 1100
Patent
active
044501439
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention concerns a process for reducing the losses in respect of organic solvent, which is used to extract from an aqueous solution the metal element which is to be put to use, after it has been rendered soluble by acid attack on the ore containing it.
For a long time now, hydrometallurgy has provided the man skilled in the art with ore attack processes, for first solubilising the metal element required, while removing the materials which are not attacked under the operating conditions, and then separating the required metal element from the other elements which form the impurities which are made soluble in the attack operation.
Among the large number of existing processes, the specialist literature has already proposed processes for the acid attack on ores, such as for example uraniferous ores, molybdeniferous and vanadiferous ores, by means of a sulphuric liquor, in order to solubilise the metal element which is sought for use, such as uranium, molybdenum or vanadium, and so as easily to be able to separate the metal element from the gangue which is formed by all mineral products which cannot be attacked under the conditions of the hydrometallurgical process.
After the operation of attacking the ore has been carried out, the liquid and solid phases are separated by a known means, for example filtering, settling or centrifuging, and the liquid phase is then subjected to a treatment for extracting the metal element which is sought for use, by known means such as chemical precipitation, fixing the metal ion on an anionic ion-exchange resin, or extraction of the liquid-liquid type using a suitable organic solvent.
In the latter type of extraction operation, using an organic solvent for the metal element which is sought for use, the liquid phase which contains the metal element in solution is generally in a highly dilute condition as it is formed by the mixture of the liquid fraction originating directly from the attack operation and the water for washing the solid phase formed by the non-attacked mineral substances.
Hence, this extraction process suffers from the major disadvantage of being required to treat a very substantial amount of aqueous solution, by means of the organic extraction solvent, thereby requiring large-volume installations and high levels of treatment costs.
Because the volume of the aqueous solution to be treated by the organic solvent is excessive in many cases, it has been proposed (Canadian Pat. No. 756,991) that the suspension resulting from the acid attack on the ore might be treated by means of an organic extraction solvent. This process comprises counter-current circulation of the suspension originating from the operation of attack on the ore and the organic solvent in a vertical extraction zone, the organic solvent being introduced into the lower part of the extraction zone in the form of globules with a minimum diameter of 0.1 mm, the globules migrating in counter-current through the suspension, by virtue of the low specific gravity of the globules, to be collected in the upper part of the extraction zone.
Although the process is highly attractive in regard to the basic principle thereof, by virtue of the liquid-liquid exchange which occurs in the extraction zone between the aqueous solution containing the desired metal and the organic solvent, the process has been found to suffer from major disadvantages which restrain the use of such a process.
Of the disadvantages which have been found, one is particularly troublesome because it results in substantial losses in respect of organic extraction solvent, due to the solvent being adsorbed by the solid phase of the suspension.
The applicants considered that the process disclosed in the Canadian patent was an interesting one and therefore searched for the reasons for the organic extraction solvent being adsorbed by the solid phase resulting from the ore attack operation. By means of many laboratory experiments, the applicants discovered that the organic extraction solvent was adsorbed by the clays present in the gangue of the or
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Bailar, J. C., et al., Eds. Comprehensive Inorganic Chemistry, vol. 2, 1973, Pergamon Press, pp. 519-520.
Floreancig Antoine
Siffert Bernard
Trescol Jean-Jacques
Kyle Deborah L.
Pechiney
Thexion Matthew A.
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