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

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.