Method for purifying acqueous phases in hydrometallurgical extractions

• Main Authors: ANDRES ANTONIO REGHEZZA INSUNZA, ALBERTO SEGUNDO CRUZ RIVERA, JORGE ADOLFO VERGARA CHAVEZ, ELIO FELIX MOYANO COSSIO, RENZO ALBERTO GASPARINI NOZIGLIA, GINO SALVADOR SLANZI GUERRA, THOMAS SEGUNDO LORCA SOTO, GUSTAVO HOLGER BANACH SICHTERMANN, ALIRO TEORODO NELSON PINCHEIRA ALVAREZ, GONZALO RENATO CERDA VARELA, LUIS FERNANDO HIDALGO CORTES, GABRIEL ENRIQUE VERA BAEZA
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 21.03.1994
• Edition: 5
• Subjects: CHEMISTRY; FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS ALLOYS; METALLURGY; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICAL OR CHEMICAL PROCESSES OR APPARATUS IN GENERAL; PRETREATMENT OF RAW MATERIALS; PRODUCTION AND REFINING OF METALS; SEPARATION; TRANSPORTING; TREATMENT OF ALLOYS OR NON-FERROUS METALS

A method in which a contaminated aqueous solution produced as a result of a hydrometallurgical extraction operation is passed through a filtering bed comprising a plurality of elements, optionally of differing sizes and shapes, formed from materials including plastics and their derivatives, polypropylene, polyester, nylon, teflon, etc., so as to remove organic phase residues, solids, and other contaminants therefrom. The method is complemented by a back wash stage using air and water to dislodge the contaminants from the bed to permit subsequent collection and/or treatment of these materials. The method exhibits technical and economic advantages that are very significant in comparison to traditional methods.