Control of iron in copper electrolyte streams with a new monophosphonic/sulphonic acid resin

A study was conducted to control iron in copper electrolyte streams using E ichrom Industries' new monophosphonic/sulphonic acid resin. The resin stron gly and selectively extracts ferric ion over copper and cobalt from highly acidic copper electrolytes. The resin has a loading capacity of 27-g/L iron and can be readily regenerated. In addition, the new resin can easily be s ynthesized using commercially available starting materials. This paper pres ents the experimental results for iron control in copper electrolyte stream s using the new resin and discusses its potential applications to other hyd rometallurgical streams.