ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Facilitated recovery of copper from ammoniacal solution by supported liquid membrane following multiple cooperative effects

Hengpan Duan, Hongpan Liu, Chengbo Hu, Wei Cheng, and Xuequan Wang

International Academy of Targeted Therapeutics and Innovation, School of Pharmacy, Chongqing University of Arts and Sciences, Chongqing, China

E-mail: wanwanlab@163.com

Received: 6 January 2020  Accepted: 11 April 2020

Abstract:

One-step recovery of copper(II) from ammonia/ammonium sulfate solution by combining supported liquid membrane and electro-deposition process was investigated. The fundamental parameters enhancing copper transport through a supported liquid membrane, such as carrier concentration of N902 extractant in the membrane, H₂SO₄ concentration in the stripping phase, temperature and ultrasonication, were examined. The results show that three auxiliary measures including higher operating temperature, ultrasonic assistance and electro-deposition process can all improve copper transport efficiency. Nearly, all of copper in feed phase were transported across the supported liquid membrane by using simultaneously the electro-deposition process and ultrasonic assistance after 10 h with a flux of 3.35 × 10^–5 mol m⁻² s⁻¹ under the optimal conditions: 100 mg L⁻¹ copper in 1.0 mol L⁻¹ each of ammonia and ammonium sulfate solution as the feed phase, 20 vol% N902 in kerosene as carrier, 80 g L⁻¹ H₂SO₄ as the stripping phase, stirring rate of 800 rpm in two aqueous phases and operating temperature of 40 °C. In the meantime, 83.8% copper ions in stripping phase were recycled to particles deposited on the cathode surface. Furthermore, membrane stability was also evaluated and shown to be satisfactory for at least seven runs (70 h). Application of the assembled supported liquid membrane system has been found to be successful in the facilitated recovery of copper from ammoniacal solution.

Keywords: Recovery of copper; Ammoniacal solution; Supported liquid membrane; Permeation flux; Membrane stability

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-020-01163-9

Chemical Papers 74 (10) 3335–3345 (2020)