Recovery of Copper from Effluents by Cementation on Aluminum in a Multirotating Cylinder-Agitated Vessel

Abstract

Recovery of copper from synthetic waste solution using cementation technique in a new agitated vessel employing multirotating aluminum cylinders impeller was investigated. Parameters studied are cylinder diameter, rotation speed, initial copper ion concentrations, and effect of surfactants. Solution analysis and scanning electron microscopy were employed to investigate the kinetic and mechanism of the process. The rate of recovery was found to be at its maximum value at the operating conditions of 350 rpm rotation speed, 5000 ppm initial CuSO4 concentration, and 1.2 cm cylinder diameter. All data were correlated by the dimensionless equation: $$ {\text{Sh}} = 1.16 {\text{Sc}}^{0.33} {\text{Re}}^{0.63} \left( {\frac{{d_{\text{c}} }}{L}} \right)^{0.54}, $$ with an average deviation of ±8.5 pct and a standard deviation of 5.88 pct. Presence of nonylphenol ethoxylate surfactant in the solution decreased the rate of recovery by an amount ranging from 2.94 to 38.57 pct depending on the operating conditions. The present geometry gave higher rates of recovery compared to both the single rotating cylinder and rotating disc reactor.