Leaching performance of imidazolium based ionic liquids in the presence of hydrogen peroxide for recovery of metals from brass waste

Ayfer Kilicarslan,Muhlis N Saridede

doi:10.3989/revmetalm.063

Abstract

The application of ionic liquids (ILs), 1-methylimidazolium hydrogen sulfate (HmimHSO4), 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium hydrogen sulfate (HmimHSO4) and 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride (BmimCl) as leaching agents was investigated in the leaching of copper and zinc from brass waste in the presence of an oxidant, hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Factors that affect copper and zinc dissolution rates such as ionic liquid concentration, time and temperature were investigated. The results indicated that zinc was dissolved in leach solutions with EmimHSO4 and HmimHSO4, completely. Temperature had no considerable influence on copper dissolution rate whilst the rate increased with decreasing IL concentration. In the EmimHSO4 system, higher copper recoveries were achieved with 40% and 60% IL concentrations compared with IL concentrations of 20% and 80% at 40 °C leaching temperature. Copper dissolution rates decreased with EmimHSO4 concentration at 60 °C and 80 °C in the following order; 40% > 20% > 60% > 80%. On the other hand the leaching system with BmimCl generally resulted in poor extractions of copper and zinc.

Highlights

Wastes which occur during brass production are considered to be significant copper and zinc resources because of their high copper and zinc content (Nesbitt and Xue, 1995; Welter and Revet, 2001; Kahvecioglu et al, 2003) Some previous researchers (Abdel Basir and Rabah, 1999; Timur et al, 2000; Ahmed et al, 2012; Kilicarslan and Saridede, 2015a) have proposed hydrometallurgical recycling processes for the recovery of metals from brass waste using the conventional acid leaching process
Their ability to dissolve a variety of components at low temperatures makes the ionic liquids (ILs) promising and green alternatives to the traditional aqueous acid/alkaline solutions used in hydrometallurgical processes (Tian et al, 2010)
It is evident that the ionic liquid concentration did not influence the zinc recovery rate significantly at moderate temperatures

Summary

Introduction

Wastes which occur during brass production are considered to be significant copper and zinc resources because of their high copper and zinc content (Nesbitt and Xue, 1995; Welter and Revet, 2001; Kahvecioglu et al, 2003) Some previous researchers (Abdel Basir and Rabah, 1999; Timur et al, 2000; Ahmed et al, 2012; Kilicarslan and Saridede, 2015a) have proposed hydrometallurgical recycling processes for the recovery of metals from brass waste using the conventional acid leaching process.Recently, ionic liquids (ILs) have been focused on as alternative solvents for the sustainable dissolution, extraction and separation of metal ions (McCluskey et al, 2002; Dandan and Kyung, 2010). It is possible to design an IL with the desired specifications to meet the requirement of a specific process (Earle and Seddon, 2000) Their unique properties such as low vapor pressure, non-flammability, wide liquid range and thermal stability to solubilize a wide range of solutes including metal salts and complexes make them attractive for hydrometallurgical applications. Their ability to dissolve a variety of components at low temperatures makes the ILs promising and green alternatives to the traditional aqueous acid/alkaline solutions used in hydrometallurgical processes (Tian et al, 2010)

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Results

Conclusion