This work is a cooperation with Boliden Minerals AB, who recently has been interested in recovering more valuable elements from their byproducts. For this case, solvent extraction was chosen as a potential method of recovering these valuables, as it is a method considered to be ideal for separation of trace elements from large amounts of other substances. The goal for this work was to execute manual extraction experiments as a preparation for a bigger project at LTU. The objectives of this thesis included the investigation of the selectivity for extraction of tin and antimony, using different concentrations of hydrochloric acid in the feed solution, analysis of the equilibrium isotherms for Sn and Sb at 8M of HCl as well as the evaluation of the number of steps needed for future extraction experiments, using the McCabe- Thiele method. By executing manual experiments with a speiss precipitate dissolved in hydrochloric acid, the results obtained indicated that the selectivity increased with a higher content of HCl in the feed solution. Using different ratios between the aqueous and organic phase, the equilibrium curves denoted a pushback effect, causing antimony to migrate back into the aqueous phase at the saturation level of tin. By constructing a McCable-Thiele diagram according to the equilibrium curves, the number of steps could be evaluated to three.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:ltu-65822 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Sundell, Oscar |
| Publisher | Luleå tekniska universitet, Kemiteknik |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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