I would like to know if there are any papers which define and explain principles of hydrometallurgical processes ?
Dear Diego, the general principles of hydrometallurgy can be explained in 10-12 sentences.
Consider this example. There are solid materials that contain certain valuable components (non-ferrous and precious metals) that we want to extract. We will solve this problem using hydrometallurgical methods.
The first stage is the processing of the source material with an aqueous solution of a chemical reagent (leaching). The purpose of this operation is to selectively extract the valuable component (metal) into the solution. It is highly desirable that as much of the target metal as possible go into solution, and other components remain in the solid.
The third stage is the extraction of the target metal from the solution (cementation, electrolysis, liquid extraction, etc.)
The second stage is the purification and concentration of the solution obtained during leaching (the first stage). Selective sedimentation of components in the form of sparingly soluble compounds (by varying the pH of the solution) is most common used. This stage is needed to prepare the solution for the third stage.
The first stage (leaching) is considered the most difficult and costly. The choice of leaching conditions is based on the type of raw material, its chemical and mineralogical composition.
Concerning the papers – you can easily find them on the Internet by typing «Hydrometallurgy principles» and so on. My advice is to select only papers in reputable journals.
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