What is the principle of hydrometallurgy

Principle of hydrometallurgy: iron metal is put into the copper sulfate solution to replace the copper in the copper sulfate.

1, hydrometallurgy is the metal mineral raw materials in an acidic medium or alkaline medium of aqueous solution for chemical treatment or organic solvent extraction, separation of impurities, extraction of metals and their compounds process.

2, hydrometallurgy as an independent technology is in the Second World War period of rapid development, in the extraction of uranium and some other minerals can not be used in the traditional pyrometallurgy, but only with chemical solvents to separate them out, this method of refining metals is hydrometallurgy.

With the decline in ore grade and the increasingly stringent requirements of environmental protection, hydrometallurgy in the production of non-ferrous metals play an increasingly large role, hydrometallurgy mainly includes leaching, liquid-solid separation, solution purification, solution metal extraction and wastewater treatment and other unit operation process.

Expanded Information:

According to the leaching agent can be categorized into acid leaching, alkali leaching and salt leaching. According to the leaching chemical process is divided into oxidation leaching and reduction leaching. According to the leaching method can be divided into heap leaching, in situ leaching, percolation leaching, agitation leaching, hot ball mill leaching, pipeline leaching, fluidized leaching. According to the pressure of the leaching process can be divided into atmospheric leaching and pressurized leaching .

The factors affecting the leaching speed are mainly the composition, structure and particle size of solid materials, the concentration of leaching agent, the temperature of leaching, the relative flow rate of liquid-solid phase and slurry viscosity.

For metals or low value metal oxides, the purpose of oxidative leaching is to oxidize the metal to ions or to oxidize the low value ions to high value ions with high solubility into solution. The former such as cyanide leaching of gold and silver containing ores.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Hydrometallurgy