EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES AND PARAMETER OPTIMIZATION OF SEPARATION OF COPPER USING HOLLOW FIBER–SUPPORTED LIQUID MEMBRANE

Abstract

The separation of copper from a leach liquor bearing 204.59 mol/m³ Cu, 40.83 mol/m³ Zn, 33.94 mol/m³ Co, 255.58 mol/m³ Ni, and 75.72 mol/m³ (NH₄)₂SO₄ has been carried out with a hollow fiber membrane using LIX 84-I as the mobile carrier. Central composite inscribed (CCI) design was used to design the experiments. The factors considered for the CCI design were pH, LIX 84-I concentration in the membrane phase, flow rate, and acid concentration in the strip solution. A reduced quadratic model was found to fit the experimental data. Detailed analysis of the effect of different factors as well as their interaction on the extraction of copper has been done. The optimized condition for maximum copper flux was found to be pH 4.5, 39.88% LIX 84-I, 360 mL/min flow rate, and 7% H₂SO₄ in strip solution. The highest copper flux of 7.46 × 10⁻⁵ mol/m² · s was obtained experimentally at the above conditions, which is in good agreement with the predicted value of 7.57 × 10⁻⁵ mol/m² · s.

Keywords:

• Central composite design
• Copper
• Hollow fiber
• LIX 84-I
• Optimization

Acknowledgment

The authors wish to thank Prof. B. K. Mishra, Director, Institute of Minerals and Materials Technology, Bhubaneswar, and Dr. R. K. Paramguru, HOD, Hydro & Electrometallurgy Division, for their kind permission to publish this article. The authors acknowledge the financial support received from Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India.