Liquid-Liquid Custom Mixer-Settler Technology Development and Piloting

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Hatch, a global multidisciplinary engineering company, provides services to a wide range of industries including the mining, mineral processing, and metals industry. The GDP contribution of this sector in Canada was about $52.6 billion in 2012. Liquid-liquid extraction is an important unit operation in the mining and mineral processing industry. In liquid-liquid extraction, the transfer of a solute (metal) takes place by contacting two immiscible liquids, usually water and an organic solvent. The metal is transferred from the aqueous phase to the organic phase by a means of an extractant. Disadvantages of conventional technologies in the metal extraction industry include the use of mechanical agitators that generate a wide range of droplet size, increase in residence time, large inventories of expensive organic solvent, and large settler tanks. Furthermore, the use of large volumes of organic solvents increase plant footprint, decrease plant safety, increase environmental impact and, due to environmental regulations, it is necessary to recover the organic solvent, which introduces additional costs to the process. In this proposed NSERC Applied Research Development Grant, Sheridan College and Hatch Ltd. are seeking to solve these problems by designing and constructing a custom-made mixer and settler to improve mixing performance and minimize separation time. By using this novel technology, higher specific treatment rates are expected resulting in significant reductions in plant footprint and organic inventories. Furthermore, this proposed project will result in a novel technology with lower capital and operational costs and improved safety. Sheridan will benefit by engaging students from the Faculty of Applied Science and Technology's Chemical Engineering Department and Mechanical Engineering Department to solve real industrial engineering problems and by creating employment-ready graduates.