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Processes for recovering metals from ores using organic solvent extraction and aqueous stripping at selected temperature differentials

a technology of organic solvent extraction and aqueous stripping, which is applied in the direction of process efficiency improvement, etc., can solve the problems that the bioleaching of these sulfide minerals will contribute significant heat to the dump or heap, and achieve the advantages of copper recovery operations, reduced temperature differentials, and increased temperatures

Inactive Publication Date: 2006-06-08
COGNIS IP MANAGEMENT GMBH
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0013] It has now been surprisingly found that there are significant advantages in copper recovery operations with elevated temperatures during the extraction stage and / or lowered temperatures during the stripping stage. More particularly, advantages in copper recovery operations are realized according to the present invention by decreasing the temperature differential between the temperature during stripping and the temperature during extraction.
[0017] Lowering the temperature during the stripping stage results in more efficient stripping of the organic phase as evidenced by a lower copper concentration in the stripped organic. On the other hand, increasing the temperature during the extraction stage results in more efficient use of the oxime extractant as evidenced by a higher copper concentration in the loaded organic. Lowering the temperature during the stripping stage and / or increasing the temperature during the extraction stage increases the net transfer of copper per unit time, assuming that fiords are constant.
[0018] Thus, processes according to the present invention can be used to (1) increase overall copper production, (2) decrease overall oxime extractant concentration while maintaining copper production constant, or (3) decrease sulfuric acid concentration in the electrolyte while maintaining copper production constant or (4) some combination of two or more of these beneficial effects.

Problems solved by technology

If sulfide ores are present, bioleaching of these sulfide minerals will contribute significant amounts of heat to the dump or heap.

Method used

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  • Processes for recovering metals from ores using organic solvent extraction and aqueous stripping at selected temperature differentials

Examples

Experimental program
Comparison scheme
Effect test

example 1

[0028] Using the ISOCALC® Solvent Extraction Modeling Software one can also evaluate the effect of lowering the reagent concentration and strip temperature while maintaining copper recovery and all other factors constant. The results are summarized in Table 2.

TABLE 2StrippedCuCu NT*TStripOrgRecovery(gpl Cu / %(v / v)Δ T[Oxime]Case(° C.)(gpl Cu)(%)Extract)(° C.)(% (v / v))1455.3690.080.216+20252405.0390.080.223+1524.23354.7090.070.231+1023.44304.3890.030.239+522.65254.0790.080.247021.96203.7590.040.256−521.1

Every 5° C. decrease in the strip temperature allows one to reduce the extractant concentration by 0.8% (v / v), a reduction of ˜3.2-3.8% relative.

[0029] According to the invention, there is another potential benefit to lowering the temperature during the stripping stage. Since the organic strips more readily at lower temperature, one can also effectively lower the acid concentration and still achieve the desired copper recovery. Lowering the acid concentration in the electrolyte has ...

example 2

[0030] To further illustrate the invention, one can look at an additional set of case studies using the ISOCALC® Solvent Extraction Modeling Software with actual extraction isotherm data and experimentally determined strip data. Two sets of extraction isotherm data were determined at 25° C. and 45° C. along with the corresponding strip points at these temperatures.

[0031] The organic solution was 0.093 M in 5-nonylsalicylaldoxime and 0.189 M in 2-hydroxy-5-nonylacetophenone oxime in a typical aliphatic hydrocarbon diluent. The PLS contained 3.08 gpl Cu at a pH of 1.8. The above organic solution was contacted vigorously with the PLS solution at various organic to aqueous ratios for sufficient time to achieve equilibrium. The resulting equilibrated organic phases and the corresponding aqueous phases were analyzed for copper by atomic absorption spectroscopy. The results are summarized in Tables 3 and 4.

[0032] The copper max load against the PLS was determined by successively contacti...

case 1

represents the base case which is typical of current practice. Cooling the strip from 45° C. to 25° C. while maintaining the extraction temperature 25° C. (Case 1 vs Case 2) results in an additional 2,408 tons of copper production (a 6% increase) similar to what was seen in the first example. Increasing the temperature of extraction from 25° C. to 45° C. while maintaining the strip temperature at 45° C. (Case 1 vs Case 3) results in a similar increase in production vs Case 2.

[0036] The effect of lowering the strip temperature from 45° C. to 25° C. and at the same time increasing the temperature of extraction from 25° C. to 45° C. is seen in comparing Case 1 with Case 4, results in a 3,879 ton (9.7% relative) increase in copper production. Clearly, there are significant benefits associated with minimizing the value of ΔT to the point of driving it towards a negative value.

[0037] As previously discussed, manipulating the temperatures in stripping can provide the overall copper recov...

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Abstract

The disclosed invention concerns a process comprising: (a) providing a pregnant leach solution comprising copper values; (b) contacting the pregnant leach solution with an organic phase comprising a copper extractant at an extraction temperature, Text, to form a loaded organic phase comprising the metal values; (c) contacting the loaded organic phase with an aqueous stripping solution at a stripping temperature, Tstrip, to form a copper-enriched stripping solution; wherein the difference in temperature (ΔT) between the stripping temperature and the extraction temperature according to equation (I): ΔT=Tstrip−Text is less than or equal to about 10° C. In other increasingly more preferred embodiments of the invention, the difference in temperature (ΔT) is less than or equal to about 5° C., less than or equal to about 2.5° C., less than or equal to about 0° C., less than or equal to about −5° C., and less than or equal to about −10° C. Also disclosed are economic means to manipulate the extraction, strip, and electrowinning temperatures to achieve these temperature differentials.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. §119 from U.S. Provisional application No. 60 / 632,759, filed Dec. 3, 2004.STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT [0002] Not applicable. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION [0003] Most metals are obtained by removing those metals from the ores in which they are found in the ground. One method to initially separate metal from the ore is known as leaching. The first step in the leaching process is to contact the mined ore with an aqueous solution containing a leaching agent. For example, in copper leaching operations, sulfuric acid in an aqueous solution is contacted with the copper-containing ore. During this leaching process, acid in the leach solution is consumed and copper is dissolved, thereby increasing the copper content of the aqueous solution. [0004] The aqueous solution then contains the leached metal in a dilute form together with other impurities, for example iro...

Claims

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Application Information

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Patent Type & Authority Applications(United States)
IPC IPC(8): C22B15/00
CPCC22B3/0017C22B15/0071C22B15/0084Y02P10/20C22B3/30
Inventor VIRNIG, MICHAEL J.SUDDERTH, R. BRANTLEYCRANE, PHILIPNISBETT, ANDREWBOLEY, BURRELGORDON, DUSTINKORDOSKY, GARY A.
Owner COGNIS IP MANAGEMENT GMBH
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