A novel sandwich supported liquid membrane system for simultaneous separation of copper, nickel and cobalt in ammoniacal solution

• Published in: Separation and purification technology Vol. 173; pp. 323 - 329
• Main Authors: Duan, Hengpan, Wang, Ziyue, Yuan, Xiaohong, Wang, Shixiong, Guo, Hong, Yang, Xiangjun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.02.2017
• Subjects: Acorga M5640; Ammonia solution; Cobalt; Compartments; Copper; Copper-nickel-cobalt separation; Mathematical models; Membranes; Nickel; Separation; Solvent extraction; Supported liquid membrane; Transport; Ammonia solution; Solvent extraction; Acorga M5640; Copper-nickel-cobalt separation; Supported liquid membrane
• ISSN: 1383-5866; 1873-3794
• DOI: 10.1016/j.seppur.2016.09.045

•A novel sandwich membrane system was proposed.•Simultaneous separation of Cu, Ni and Co in ammoniacal media was achieved.•Over 99.5% of Co, 98.0% of Ni, and 98.9% of Cu distribute in three different rooms.•Only one kind of extractant of M5640 was used in the separation process. In this paper, a new strategy based on a supported liquid membrane (SLM) system for the simultaneous and selective separation of copper, cobalt, and nickel in ammonia/ammonium chloride solutions, using a two-membrane-three-compartment cell (sandwich SLM) was proposed. This model used two polyvinylidene difluoride (PVDF) membranes both loaded with 20vol.% Acorga M5640 in kerosene. The effects of H2SO4 concentrations in two stripping phases on the transport of copper, nickel, and cobalt were evaluated. Experimental results indicated that copper and nickel were transported through the first membrane into the central compartment which contained 5.0g/L H2SO4, while cobalt remained in the first feed compartment. Then copper continued to penetrate through the second membrane into the third compartment which contained 50.0g/L H2SO4, while nickel remained in the second compartment. More than 99.5% of cobalt, 98.0% of nickel, and 98.9% of copper were separated into the three different compartments from a mixed feed solution containing 100mg/L each of these three species with a transport time of 36h. A maximum copper flux of 1.59×10−6mol/m2·s was obtained. The results establish that copper, nickel, and cobalt in ammonia solution can be efficiently separated by this novel type of sandwich SLM.