The formation of stable multi-phase emulsions (crud) is a serious problem in almost all commercial solvent extraction (SX) plants. Crud is a mixture of organic and aqueous phases, air, and organic or inorganic solid particles, often found to distribute itself randomly throughout the separating phases of SX plants. Crud formation is encountered in almost all SX units in metal extraction plants. It causes the loss of solvent and thus increases the process costs. Therefore, the removal of crud and recovery of the expensive organic phase including diluent and extracting reagents from it is of great importance. In this research, the applicability of a range of powerful water absorbent reagents was studied for the recovery of organic phase from the crud formed in copper extraction/electrowining unit of Sarchashmeh copper complex (IRAN). The reagents included gypsum, carbomer, sodium polyacrylate, sodium sulfate, magnesium sulfate and calcium chloride. The results showed that gypsum, carbomer and sodium polyacrylate are effective additives which let the organic phase to be recovered with up to 95 % yield. To ensure that gypsum does not cause a negative effect on the copper loading and stripping of the recovered solvent, the extraction/stripping properties of the organic phase separated with gypsum was compared with the organic phase separated by centrifugation without additives. Surface tension analysis of the gypsum-recovered organic phase also confirmed its suitability for recovery of organic phase from crud. Finally, the calcium content of gypsum-recovered organic phase was measured and compared with that of the organic phase separated by centrifugation without any additive.

中文翻译：

---

在伊朗 Sarcheshmeh 铜矿的溶剂萃取装置中，使用强效吸水试剂从污泥中高效回收有机相


在几乎所有商业溶剂萃取 （SX） 工厂中，稳定的多相乳液 （crud） 的形成都是一个严重的问题。Crud 是有机相和水相、空气以及有机或无机固体颗粒的混合物，通常被发现在 SX 植物的整个分离相中随机分布。在金属萃取厂的几乎所有 SX 装置中都会遇到污垢形成。它会导致溶剂损失，从而增加工艺成本。因此，去除污泥并回收昂贵的有机相（包括稀释剂和从中提取试剂）非常重要。在这项研究中，研究了一系列强大的吸水试剂用于从 Sarchashmeh 铜复合体 （IRAN） 的铜提取/电解沉积装置中形成的污泥中回收有机相的适用性。试剂包括石膏、卡波姆、聚丙烯酸钠、硫酸钠、硫酸镁和氯化钙。结果表明，石膏、卡波姆和聚丙烯酸钠是有效的添加剂，可以以高达 95% 的收率回收有机相。为确保石膏不会对回收溶剂的铜负载和剥离造成负面影响，将石膏分离的有机相的萃取/剥离特性与无添加剂离心分离的有机相进行了比较。石膏回收有机相的表面张力分析也证实了其适用于从污泥中回收有机相。最后，测定石膏回收有机相的钙含量，并与无添加剂离心分离的有机相的钙含量进行比较。