Cooperative influence of D2EHPA and TBP on the reactive extraction of cobalt from sulfuric acid leach solution in a horizontal semi-industrial column

• Published in: Journal of environmental chemical engineering 2017-10, Vol.5 (5), p.4716-4727
• Main Authors: Amani, Pouria, Asadi, Javad, Mohammadi, Elham, Akhgar, Sahar, Esmaili, Mohammad
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cobalt recovery; D2EHPA/TBP; Dispersed phase holdup; Horizontal pulsed column; Mean drop diameter; Reactive extraction
• ISSN: 2213-3437; 2213-3437
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jece.2017.08.044

[Display omitted] •Reactive extraction of cobalt sulfuric solution using D2EHPA and TBP was studied.•Hydrodynamic performance of a horizontal pulsed extraction column was investigated.•New correlations were proposed for prediction of mean drop size and holdup.•Highest efficiencies of 95.3% and 93.2% for extraction and stripping of Co(II) were achieved. This article concerns the recovery of cobalt from a sulfuric acid leach solution in a horizontal pulsed perforated-plate column. Firstly, the influence of initial aqueous pH and the concentration of di(2-ethylhexly) phosphoric acid+tri-butyl phosphate has been investigated. It is observed that the mixture of these extractants is able to satisfactorily extract Co(II) from sulfate solution. Moreover, the influences of operational parameters including the phase flow rates along with pulsation intensity on the holdup, drop sizes and their distribution as well as extraction and stripping efficiencies and dispersion coefficients have been evaluated. Results show the highest efficiency of 95.3% and 93.2% for extraction and stripping of Co(II) at pulsation intensity of 1.30cm/s. Finally, new correlations for predicting mean drop size and holdup in the column are presented, which provide the average absolute relative error of 8.27% and 5.46% respectively.