Hydrochloric acid recovery from rare earth chloride solutions by vacuum membrane distillation

The possibility of the recovery of hydrochloric acid from rare earth （RE） chloride solutions was first experimentally studied by batch vacuum membrane distillation （VMD）. The recovery by continuous VMD was also studied to devise methods that enabled the operation of VMD setup in a stable condition as well as to increase the membrane-operating life The results indicated that HCl separation with RE by VMD was possible, and the recovery ratio of 80% could be achieved by batch VMD. In continuous VMD, when the temperature of circular solutions, circular rate, and downstream pressure was 62-63℃, 5.4 cm/s, and 9.33 kPa, respectively, the HCl concentration in circular solutions and the processing capacity per membrane area were obtained. The mathematical results were in accordance with the experimental ones.

Hydrochloric Acid Recovery from Rare Earth Chloride Solutions by Continuous Vacuum Membrane Distillation

The hydrochloric acid recovery from rare earth chloride solutions by continuous vacuum membrane distillation was first experimentally studied, then material balance of the process was calculated, and the equations which mathematically stimulate the process were lastly achieved. The results indicate a given RE concentration in circular solutions means its constant HCl concentration during the continuous VMD process, furthermore, increasing RE concentration in feed solutions increases the processing capacity per membrane of the experimental set-up. When keeping constant RE concentration in feed solutions, increasing RE concentration in circular solutions decreases its HCl concentration, and HCl recovery ratio increases accordingly, however, processing capacity per membrane of the experimental set-up decreases at the same time. The mathematical results are in accordance with experimental results.

Ag recovery from copper anode slime by acid leaching at atmospheric pressure to synthesize silver nanoparticles

In this paper, recovery of silver from anode slime of Sarcheshmeh copper complex in lran and subsequent synthesis of silver nanoparticles from leaching solution is investigated. Sarcheshmeh anode slime is mainly consisted ofCu, Ag, Pb and Se. Amount of Ag in the considered anode slime was 5.4% （by weight）. The goal was to recover as much as possible Ag from anode slime at atmospheric pressure to synthesize Ag nanoparticles. Therefore, acid leaching was used for this purpose. The anode slime was leached with sulfuric and nitric acid from room to 90 ~C at different acid concentrations and the run which yielded the most recovery of Ag was selected for Ag nanoparticles synthesis. At this condition, Cu, Pb and Se are lea- ched as well as Ag. To separate Ag from leach solution HCI was added and silver was precipitated as AgCl which were then dissolved by ammonia solution. The Ag nanoparticles are synthesized from this solution by chemical reduction method by aid of sodium borohydride in the presence of PVP and PEG as stabilizers. The synthesized Ag nanoparticles showed a peak of 394 nm in UV-vis spectrum and TEM images showed a rather uniform Ag nanoparticles of 12 nm.

Extracting vanadium from stone-coal by oxygen pressure acid leaching and solvent extraction

Vanadium extraction from stone-coal was investigated by oxygen pressure acid leaching and solvent extraction.The mineralogy of the stone-coal from Tongren City of Guizhou Province,China,was investigated by various determination methods. The effects of leaching time,leaching temperature,leaching agent concentration,leaching L/S ratio,granularity of material,additive consumption were investigated based on the mineralogy.The results show that under the conditions of leaching time of 3-4 h, temperature of 150℃,sulfuric acid consumption of 25%?30%,ratio of liquid to solid of 1.2:1,the granularity less than 0.074 mm, additive consumption of 3%-5%,and oxygen pressure of 1.2 MPa,and the vanadium leaching rate can be more than 92%by the method of two-step pressurized acid leaching.The powdery V2O5 product with 99.52%in V2O5 content is obtained by the flowsheet of acid recovery,removing iron by reduction process,solvent extraction,precipitating vanadium with ammonium water,and pyrolysis from the stone-coal oxygen pressure acid-leaching solution.The total recovery efficiency of vanadium is above 85%,which is more than 20%higher than that obtained in the conventional process.Furthermore,the new process does not cause air pollution since no HCl or Cl2 is released by calcination of the raw material.

Total Replacement of Fish Oil with Vegetable Oils in the Diet of Juvenile Jade Perch Scortum barcoo Reared in Recirculating Aquaculture Systems

To determine the replacement of fish oil with vegetable oils in the diet of juvenile Jade perch Scortum barcoo, four feeds with each a different oil （fish, sunflower, linseed and a mixture of 75% canola and 25% linseed oil）, were fed to Jade perch reared in recirculating aquaculture systems （RAS）. The trial lasted for 10 weeks and the fatty acid （FA） profile of both feed and fish muscle tissue were examined. There was no difference in growth, feed conversion rate （FCR） and mortality. The fish grew from 10 g to 110 g with a FCR of 1.25 and 0 mortality. The FA profile of the fish muscle tissue reflected the FA profile of the feed. The flesh of the fish that were fed the linseed oil diet, were extremely high in omega-3 （n-3） polyunsaturated FA （n-3 PUFA） with 3.75% of wet weight. This is one of the highest concentrations of n-3 PUFA ever recorded in fish flesh. In a finishing feeding test, the remaining vegetable oil fed fish were fed the fish oil diet for another two weeks immediately after the 10 weeks trial, to check for a possible recovery of n-3 highly unsaturated fatty acids （HUFA）. The wash out rate of FA towards n-3 HUFA in the muscle tissue was about 25% over this two weeks period.

An easily recoverable thermo-sensitive polyelectrolyte as draw agent for forward osmosis process

As a potential solution to the crises of energy and resources, forward osmosis(FO) has been limited by the development of draw agents. An ideal draw agent should be able to generate high osmotic pressure and can be easily recovered. In this study, a thermo-sensitive polyelectrolyte of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylic acid)(PNA)is developed as an efficient draw agent, and two easy and simple methods are proposed to effectively recover the polyelectrolytes. After adjusting the pH value of polyelectrolyte solutions to around 6.0, the polyelectrolyte can generate relatively high osmotic pressure, and induce average water fluxes of 2.09 and 2.95 L·m^(-2)·h^(-1) during12 h FO processes when the polyelectrolyte concentrations are 0.20 and 0.38 g·ml^(-1) respectively. After acidifying and heating to 70 °C, the PNA-10 polyelectrolyte can aggregate together because of hydrophobic association and separate from water, so it can be easily recovered by either simple centrifugation or gravitational sedimentation. The recovery ratios of PNA-10 polyelectrolyte in both methods are as high as 89%, and the recovered polyelectrolytes can be reused with almost the same FO performance as fresh ones. The results in this study provide valuable guidance for designing efficient and easily recoverable draw agents for FO processes.

Improving gold recovery of Pb–Zn sulfide ore by selective activation with organic acid

Free gold and gold wrapped in sulfides are considered as the object of gold floatation. However,floatation of free gold exhibits more variables in practice.In this study, improving gold recovery of a Pb-Zn sulfide ore from Yunnan Province, China, was investigated. The results show that free gold and auriferous sulfides account for 94.99 % of total gold. Without adding organic acid in floatation, only 82 % recovery of gold could be obtained.Gold recovery in Au/Pb concentrates increases by 9.29 %with oxalate added and by 7.35 % with citric acid added,respectively, while performances of lead and arsenic nearly keep a constant. A possible reason is that free gold is of wonderful selectivity against pyrite with organic activators.A new method to enhance gold recovery is proposed.

Influence of Mechanical Activation on Acid Leaching Dephosphorization of High-phosphorus Iron Ore Concentrates

High pressure roll grinding（HPRG）and ball milling were compared to investigate the influence of mechanical activation on the acid leaching dephosphorization of a high-phosphorus iron ore concentrate,which was manufactured through magnetizing roasting-magnetic separation of high-phosphorus oolitic iron ores.The results indicated that when high-phosphorus iron ore concentrates containing 54.92 mass% iron and 0.76 mass% phosphorus were directly processed through acid leaching,iron ore concentrates containing 55.74mass%iron and 0.33mass%phosphorus with an iron recovery of 84.64%and dephosphorization of 63.79% were obtained.When high-phosphorus iron ore concentrates activated by ball milling were processed by acid leaching,iron ore concentrates containing56.03mass%iron and 0.21mass% phosphorus with an iron recovery of 85.65% and dephosphorization of 77.49%were obtained.Meanwhile,when high-phosphorus iron ore concentrates activated by HPRG were processed by acid leaching,iron ore concentrates containing 58.02mass%iron and 0.10mass% phosphorus were obtained,with the iron recovery reaching 88.42% and the dephosphorization rate reaching 88.99%.Mechanistic studies demonstrated that ball milling can reduce the particle size,demonstrating aprominent reunion phenomenon.In contrast,HPRG pretreatment contributes to the formation of more cracks within the particles and selective dissociation of iron and P bearing minerals,which can provide the favorable kinetic conditions to accelerate the solid-liquid reaction rate.As such,the crystal structure is destroyed and the surface energy of mineral particles is strengthened by mechanical activation,further strengthening the dephosphorization.