Demonstration Plant Equipment Design and Scale-Up from Pilot Plant of a Leaching and Solvent Extraction Process

Minerals

Fátima Arroyo¹  Constantino Fernández-Pereira²  Pilar Bermejo² 

[1] School of Engineering, Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department, University of Seville, Camino de los Descubrimientos, Seville 41092, Spain;

关键词: germanium;    fly ash;    pilot plant;    design;    scale up;    hydrometallurgy;   

DOI  :  10.3390/min5020298

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Germanium recovery from coal fly ash by hydrometallurgical procedures was studied at the pilot scale (5 kg of fly ash/h). Results were used to design the equipment of a demonstration-sized plant (200 kg of fly ash/h). The process is based on hydrometallurgical operations: firstly a germanium extraction from fly ash by leaching and a consequent Ge separation from the other elements present in the solution by solvent extraction procedures. Based on the experimental results, mass balances and McCabe-Thiele diagrams were applied to determine the number of steps of the solvent extraction stage. Different arrangements have been studied and a countercurrent process with three steps in extraction and six steps in elution was defined. A residence time of 5 min was fixed in both the extraction and elution stages. Volumetric ratios in extraction and stripping were: aqueous phase/organic phase = 5 and organic phase/stripping phase = 5, so a concentration factor of 25 is achieved. Mixers and decanters were completely defined. The maximum extracted and eluted germanium was estimated and a global efficiency of 94% was achieved. The cost-effectiveness of the equipment was estimated using the Lang factors.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
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