RECOVERY OF COPPER FROM AMMONIACAL SOLUTIONS BY ROTATING FILM PERTRACTION

A new bulk liquid membrane process for recovery of copper from dilute ammoniacal leach solutions has been studied. Copper was extracted and concentrated by means of a rotating film pertractor using LIX(R) 54 as carrier. Assuming the existence of two thin reaction layers in the fe ed and strip solutions, adjacent to both water-oil interfaces, a mathe matical model was developed to describe the copper transport. On the b asis of the experimental data obtained under various conditions and th e model proposed it was found that the extraction step is controlled m ainly by the mass transfer resistance, whereas the stripping mte of co pper is controlled simultaneously by the rate of the mass transfer and the rate of copper-complex decomposition in the stripping side reacti on layer.