Hydrometallurgy Lab 4b (Solvent Exchange)

DATE: April 2, 2024

TO: Weston Hartzell, Graduate Student, Hydrometallurgy
Carter Glynn, Graduate Student, Metallurgical Engineering
FROM: Micah Driesner, Undergraduate Student, Metallurgical Engineering
SUBJECT: Hydrometallurgy Lab 4b Results, Spring 2024
The goal of this experiment was to investigate the effect of the ratio of organic to aqueous
phase in the solvent extraction process of copper. Five combined solutions of aqueous and
organic solutions were combined in various ratios as shown in Table 1 below. Each solution was
placed in a wrist shaker, which ran for 15 minutes to thoroughly mix the two solutions and
enable extraction. Then the two solutions were separated, and the copper content of the new
aqueous solution was measured. The data are shown in Table 1 below.
Table 1: Copper Absorption of Aqueous Solution
Aqueous/Organic Ratio (mL/mL) Copper Extraction
14/2 35.91%
8/2 47.32%
8/4 68.01%
8/8 77.73%
5/10 85.33%