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A review on extraction and separation studies

of copper with various commercial extractants

Article in Metallurgical Research and Technology January 2015

DOI: 10.1051/metal/2015005

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Metall. Res. Technol. 112, 202 (2015)

c EDP Sciences, 2015 Metallurgical Research
DOI: 10.1051/metal/2015005
&Technology
www.metallurgical-research.org

A review on extraction and separation studies

of copper with various commercial extractants
S. Pradhan and S. Mishra
Department of Chemistry, Institute of Technical Education and Research, SikshaOAnusandhan
University, Khandagiri square, Bhubaneswar, 751030 Odisha, India
e-mail: drsujatamishra97@gmail.com

Key words:
Copper; solvent extraction;
extractants; separation
Received 19 September 2014
Accepted 6 February 2015
Abstract In this study, the present status and future trends of copper solvent extrac-
tion has been reviewed by focusing on the use of various types of extractants. Problems
commonly encountered in the earlier investigations have been reviewed. Some new in-
vestigations for special cases of copper separation from other associated metals are also
summarized. Recently developed extraction systems have also been discussed. The extrac-
tion and separation studies of copper from different sources under varying experimental
conditions have been discussed. Scope for further research in copper solvent extraction has
been suggested.

he demand for metals of the first ganese nodules as oxidant in 4 M hydrochlo-

T row transition series for various com-

mercial purposes is increasing exten-
sively. The tremendous utilization of these
metals and their subsequent discharge is
loading the environment with alarming con-
centrations as some of these are serious pol-
lutants of the biosphere. Cobalt, nickel, zinc
and copper are amongst the most impor-
tant nonferrous metals. In hydrometallurgi-
cal processes, these metal values are gen-
erally recovered from leach liquors using
precipitation, solvent extraction and electro
winning techniques. Copper (II) ion pos-
sesses a wide range of biological activi-
ties [1]. Copper is used as thermal and elec-
trical conductor, building materials and also
serves as an important constituent of vari-
ous metal alloys. The present reserve of cop-
per oxide ore is not sucient to meet the
global demand as it is a widely used metal.
So quantitative recovery of copper from sul-
phide ores and waste materials is impor-
tant. Since many years solvent extraction-
electro winning has been proved to be an
economical and versatile technique for pro-
ducing copper. The main source of copper is
chalcopyrite (CuFeS2 ) associated with other
sulphides, such as pyrite (FeS2 ). Chalcopy-
rite is quantitatively leached using man-
ric acid [2]. Review of relevant literature in-
dicates that when leaching of copper sul-
phide ore is carried out in sulphate media
a large volume of sulphate salt discharge
accumulate, leading to environmental pol-
lution [3]. To avoid this, chloride leaching
process is developed for the treatment of
Cu, Ni, Zn and Co containing ores. Cop-
per bearing leach liquors generally go along
with some other impurities and pure state
of the metal is required for commercial use.
Hence, the process of obtaining it in high
purity is of great significance and this ne-
cessitates the separation of copper from the
impurities. Solvent extraction is one of the ef-
ficient hydrometallurgical techniques which
can be employed for recovery and separa-
tion of copper from chloride solution and
subsequently transferring it to sulphate so-
lution for electro winning [3]. In recent years,
solvent extraction as an analytical tool has
become very popular due to its ease, sim-
plicity, speed and applicability to both trace
and macro level [4]. Solvent extraction in
small scale copper plants was started in 1968
and by the year 1974 copper production has
been expanded to a large scale of about
0.1 T/y [5]. The flow sheet for the recovery of
copper from its ore is given in Figure 1 [6].

Article published by EDP Sciences

 S. Pradhan and S. Mishra: Metall. Res. Technol. 112, 202 (2015)
Fig. 1. Flow-sheet diagram recovery of copper from its ore in LX/SX/EW plant reference [6].
Coextraction of iron with copper has been
a major problem encountered in the extrac-
tion of copper using LIX 84I and LIX 622N
in kerosene.
This article briefly highlights the appli-
cation of solvent extraction for the recovery
and separation of copper from various
resources and industrial wastes by us-
ing dierent commercially available organic
extractants.
1 Extractants
In order to design extraction processes those
are feasible both environmentally and eco-
nomically, suitable extractants which result
in high extraction are required. The choice
of a specific reagent to be used as extrac-
tant depends upon its availability, physical
performance, overall complexing ability and
chemical properties. The development and
use of various organic compounds as extrac-
tants for the solvent extraction of copper has
been of considerable importance during re-
cent times. Sudderth and Kordosky [7] have
classified the main type of chemicals used as
metal extractants on the basis of their struc-
ture, extraction and stripping chemistry and
the metal species extracted. General features
202-page 2
of extractants are their ability to extract the
metal at the required pH, selectivity for
extracting required metal and to reject un-
desired metal ions. It should have solubility
in the organic phase and stability through-
out the principal stages with acceptable rates
of extraction, scrubbing and stripping.
For the extraction of elements of first
row transition series a wide range of ex-
tractants such as carboxylic and hydrox-
amic acids, high molecular weight amines
and organophosphorous extractants have
been proposed over the years. Carboxylic
acids and phosphoric acids were available
in 1950 and have been used to separate cop-
per from magnesium but iron (III) was ex-
tracted along with copper. The use of car-
boxylic acids and high molecular weight
amines has been limited due to the prob-
lem of extractant loss, emulsion formation
and the co extraction of the associated metal
ions [8]. Addition of alkali to precipitate
iron as iron hydroxide created complica-
tions in the process which led to the de-
velopment of oximes as extractants for cop-
per (II). -hydroxyoximes have been used
as commercial extractants for copper ex-
traction from acid solution. After the be-
ginning of industrial use of copper solvent
 S. Pradhan and S. Mishra: Metall. Res. Technol. 112, 202 (2015)
Fig. 2. Structure of Chelating extractants.
extraction in 1968, Ketoxime reagents
were invented shortly using the formu-
lations of 2-hydroxybenzophenone oxime.
Later ketoxime reagents were made us-
ing 2-hydroxy-5-nonylacetophenone, which
proved more eective for dilute acid low
copper tenor solutions. Ketoximes have
moderate strength, useful above a pH of
1.61.8 with good physical performance, ex-
cellent phase separation, low entrainment
losses to the ranate and do not promote
excessive crud formation [9]. Aldoximes,
are second generation commercial extrac-
tants and have advantages of better extrac-
tion ability, extraction from highly acidic
leachate with good selectivity over iron [10].
Salicylaldoxime are very good copper ex-
tractants with rapid copper transfer kinet-
ics [11]. LIX 64, LIX 63, LIX 64 N, LIX 70, LIX
65 N etc are used to extract copper in large
scale operations. LIX 973 N is a member of
the oxime derivatives family and its perfor-
mance has been proved on copper (II) extrac-
tion from ammoniacal ammonium carbon-
ate medium. The optimum extraction pH for
this extractant lies within 8.5 to 10.5 [12, 13].
LIX 984N is a strong copper extractant
with very good physical performance [14].
This commercial reagent is a hydroxime
derivative and is 1:1 mixture of LIX860 (2-
hydroxy-5-nonyl-acetophenoneoxime) and
LIX 84 (5-dodecylsalicylaldoxime). Figure 2
represents the structure of some chelating
extractants.
Later on quinoline (Kelex 100) based ex-
tractants were devised. They have higher se-
lectively for copper and short contact time
resulted in better extraction of copper. These
have advantage of extracting copper from
high acid feeds.
A large number of organophospho-
rus compounds such as tri-n-butyl phos-
phate (TBP), di(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric
acid (DEHPA), mono(2-ethylhexyl) phos-
phoric acid (H2HEHP), tri-n-octyl phos-
phine oxide (TOPO), Cyanex 925 (a mixture
of two dierent phosphine oxides), bis(2,4,4-
trimethylpentyl) phosphinic acid (Cyanex
272) and its di- and mono-sulfur analogues
namely Cyanex 301 and Cyanex 302 have
been employed for the recovery of tran-
sition metal ions [8]. Among these com-
pounds the use of TBP is restricted to ni-
trate and chloride media and the extraction
is suppressed by complexing anions such
as F , SO24
, PO3
4
and CO2 3 . Cyanex 921,
(C8 H17 )3 PO, exhibits a strong dipole mo-
ment centered on the phosphorus-oxygen
bond. The oxygen being more electronega-
tive is the end that will provide the unshared
pair of electrons for bonding with the vacant
orbitals of a metal ion. The long side chains
202-page 3
 S. Pradhan and S. Mishra: Metall. Res. Technol. 112, 202 (2015)
of this molecule help to increase the size
of the complexed metal ion. The structure
of some organophosphorous extractants are
given below in Figure 3.
In the next section recent works on cop-
per extraction/separation by using various
extractants have been summarized. The ex-
tractive properties of the selected reagents
have been examined and dierent operating
variables aecting extraction have also been
discussed.
2 Extraction studies of copper
2.1 Chelating extractants
Due to the importance of chelating ex-
tractants, especially in the area of copper
production, it seems useful to sketch the be-
haviour of these extractants under dierent
experimental conditions. From literature
studies it is evident that selective extraction
of copper with chelating agents is a well-
known technique in sulphate/sulphuric
acid media [1517]. Alguacil and Alonso
carried out studies on the system cop-
per/ammonium sulfate/LIX 54 and noted
that copper is extracted only at pH above
3 and the highest extraction eciency is
obtained in the range of pH 79 [18]. A
study has been carried out on the use of
solvent extraction to remove copper from
concentrated zinc sulfate leach solution by
Owusu [19] using LIX 622N. The report
indicates that selectivity of copper over
other metals in solution is very high with
negligible co-extraction of zinc, iron, cobalt
and cadmium. Copper has been extracted
selectively from solution at relatively low
pH values and the process did not require
any pH modification. Szymanowski and
Borowiak-Resterna have demonstrated
that equimolar mixture of N,N,N,N-
tetrahexylpyridine-3,5-dicarboxamide with
2-hydroxy-5-t-octylbenzophenone oxime
extract copper from chloride solutions of
various concentrations. They reported that
2-hydroxy-5-t-octylbenzophenone oxime
permits eective extraction of copper from
chloride media [20]. Cierpiszewski [21] has
discussed kinetics of copper (II) extrac-
tion from chloride medium with dioctyl
pyridinedicarboxylate and commercial
202-page 4
extractant ACORGA CLX-50. It has been
found that initial extraction rate and
equilibrium constant strongly depend on
the temperature and diluent for both the
extractants. The equilibrium constant and
initial rate of extraction decreases as the
temperature increases. Carvalho et al. [22]
reported the extraction of copper from
ammonia/ammonium sulphate medium
with LIX 54, a -diketone. Highest extrac-
tion was attained in the pH range 89.5.
Above pH 10, the extraction percentage
of metal ion decreases sharply. Lan and
coworkers [23] have reported the extraction
studies of copper from sulphide ores by
bioleaching using LIX 984 as extractant.
The results indicate that copper extraction
is above 97% while in case of zinc and
iron, extraction is less than 1.6% leading to
excellent separation. Extraction of copper
(II) from phosphoric acid media using LIX
622 dissolved in kerosene has also been
investigated [24]. From application point of
view it has been noticed that the eciency
of LIX 622 to recover Copper (II) from
concentrated phosphoric acid solutions
is not very high, especially at high acid
concentration. Asghari and coworkers [25]
have studied the eect of impurities such
as Zn (II), Mn (II), Fe (III) and Fe (II) on the
r
extraction of copper using LIX 984N in
kerosene. In this case it was observed that
pH plays a vital role in the extraction of
r
copper from sulfate media by LIX 984N.
r

Around 2.18 vol% of LIX 984N has been
found to be optimum for the maximum
extraction of copper and 93.9% extraction is
achieved at the end of 600 s. So it was con-
cluded that by good pH control, separation
of Cu (II), Zn (II), Mn (II) and Fe (III) ions
can be achieved. LIX 84-I and LIX 622N are
good extractants for copper but they have
small dierence in structure. In this context,
a comparative study has been carried out
by Panigrahi et al. [26] to show selective
extraction of copper from the manganese
nodule bulk sulphide leach liquor using
these extractants. The report shows that the
percentage extraction of copper with both
the extractants increase with increase in pH
and extractant concentration. LIX 622N was
proven to be superior with respect to copper
loading. Panda et al. [27] have reported
 S. Pradhan and S. Mishra: Metall. Res. Technol. 112, 202 (2015)

Fig. 3. Structural formulae of Acidic and solvating extractants.

on the extraction of copper from bacterial
leach liquor of a low grade chalcopyrite
test heap using LIX 984N. Eect of dierent
operational parameters such as equilibrium
pH, extractant concentration, strip solution
concentration, phase volume ratio has been
examined in order to optimize the condition
for selective and quantitative extraction
of copper. Investigations of the extraction
of copper from sulphate leach liquor of
a waste heat boiler has been carried out
using LIX 84I and LIX 622N in kerosene by

202-page 5
 S. Pradhan and S. Mishra: Metall. Res. Technol. 112, 202 (2015)
Barik et al. [28]. It was observed that the
percentage extraction of copper increases
from 5.5 to 75.28 and from 13.43 to 87.85
with LIX 84I and LIX 622N with increasing
equilibrium pH from 0.25 to 1.24 and
0.27 to 1.1, respectively. In order to avoid
co-extraction of iron with copper, iron was
precipitated from the solution with Ca(OH)2
prior to extraction of copper. Ca(OH)2 was
added to maintain the pH values within 4
because at higher pH there was loss of cop-
per. Ochromowicz et al. [29] have presented
the results of extraction of copper (II) from
ammonia leach solution. The eect of nature
of extractant, its concentration and nature
of diluent in the organic phase on extraction
eciency and ammonia transfer have been
studied with the commercial extractants
such as, LIX 84-I, LIX 984N, LIX 54-100. The
results indicate that in case of systems using
hydroxyoximes as extractants the extraction
is remarkably higher as compared to that
for -diketone reagents. Out of these three
extractants, the authors proposed LIX 84-I
as the best extractant because of better
stability, less number of extraction stages
and low acid requirement in the stripping
stage, which is suitable for commercial
applications.
From the above discussion it is con-
cluded that pH plays a major role in the
extraction of copper using chelating extrac-
tants. Due attention has been paid to the
problem of ammonia transfer to the or-
ganic phase. Ammonia in the organic phase
has been eliminated by doubly washing
the loaded organic phase with sulphuric
acid. Comprehensive studies have also been
made on copper removal from chloride me-
dia. The extraction of copper from nitrate
solution and organic solution containing hy-
droxyoxime type extractants has also been
investigated [11].
2.2 Acidic and solvating extractants
Organophosphorus acids have been exten-
sively employed as extractants for metals
in the solvent extraction process due to
their high solubility in the organic phase,
good loading capacity, availability at com-
mercial quantities, ease of formation of com-
plex with the metals of interest and good
202-page 6
selectivity for the extraction of the desired
metal [30]. The mechanisms of copper (II)
solvent extraction by Cyanex 272, Cyanex
302 and Cyanex 301 has been discussed by
Sole and Hiskey [31]. The extraction studies
revealed that Cu (II) was reduced to Cu (I) on
extraction by the sulfur-containing ligands,
accompanied with the oxidation of the ex-
tractant. It is shown that copper combines in
a 1:1 stoichiometric ratio with these ligands
to form multinuclear oligomeric complexes,
in which the ligands bridge between metal
centers. On the basis of Hard-Soft Acid-Base
(HSAB) concept and pi bonding between the
d orbitals of the metal center and the donor
atoms, the increased stabilities of the com-
plexes formed with sulphur containing lig-
ands can be explained. Cierpiszewski and
Szymanowski [32] have reported that solvat-
ing reagents are highly ecient for copper
extraction from concentrated chloride solu-
tions with low water activity. Extraction of
copper from sulphate media using Cyanex
921 and Cyanex 923 has been reported by
Pawar et al. [33]. Tao and Nagaosa [34] inves-
tigated on extraction of copper (II) with di-
2-methylnonylphosphoric acid (DMNPA)
(HA) in n-dodecane, toluene, and 1-octanol
as organic diluents. The extracted copper (II)
species has been found to be CuA2 . 2HA
in n-dodecane, CuA2 . 3HA in toluene, and
CuA2 in 1-octanol. The stoichiometry of the
extracted metal species has been compared
with that of di-2-ethylhexylphosphoric acid
(DEHPA) under the same experimental con-
ditions and it has been found that DM-
NPA is superior to DEHPA with respect
to copper extractability. The extraction of
Cu (II) using DEHPA and MEHPA has been
studied by Hu and Otu [35]. Sato et al.
studied the extraction of Mn, Co, Ni, Cu
and Zn from hydrochloric acid solutions
by 2-ethylhexyl phosphonic acid mono-2-
ethylhexyl ester (PC-88A) [36]. From the re-
sults, the extraction eciency of PC88A for
divalent metals can be interpreted and the
order of extraction was Zn > Mn > Cu >
CoNi. The role of organophosphorous ex-
tractants and their applications in actual
industrial operating plants have been dis-
cussed by Flett [37].Voorde and cowork-
ers [38] performed extraction of nickel (II),
cobalt (II) and copper (II) from chloride so-
 S. Pradhan and S. Mishra: Metall. Res. Technol. 112, 202 (2015)
Fig. 4. Plot of equilibrium pH versus percentage extraction reference [43].
lutions with Aloxime 800, D2EHPA, Cyanex
272 and its sulphur analogs, Cyanex 301 and
302 dissolved in hexane. Copper and nickel
complexes were formed with all extractants
but coordination of copper (II) with Cyanex
301 and 302 was less pronounced due to
the replacement of oxygen by sulphur. High-
est equilibrium constant were obtained with
Cyanex 301 and Aloxime800 and the later
has been a potential extractant for Cu (II).
Daoud and Hefny [39] obtained Cyanex 302
dissolved in kerosene as a potential extrac-
tant for the extraction of copper from sul-
phate, chloride and nitrate solutions. Inter-
action between TBP and D2EHPA during
solvent extraction of Zn, Cd, Mn, Cu, Co
and Ni has been studied [40]. The equivalent
concentration of D2EHPA has been used as
modifying factor for TBP during the extrac-
tion as the results indicate that the equiva-
lent concentration of D2EHPA decreases as
a function of concentration of TBP because
of the formation of hydrogen bonds between
the two. Devi and Mishra [3, 41] have stud-
ied the extraction of Cu (II) ion from chlo-
ride media by using Cyanex 923 and 921
in kerosene. Using 0.5M Cyanex 921, 93%
Cu (II) was extracted from 5M HCl whereas
with 1 M Cyanex 923, 97.5 percent extrac-
tion was reported from 5 M HCl. There-
fore, it is concluded that the extraction ef-
ficiency of Cyanex 923 for Cu (II) is higher
than that of Cyanex 921 in chloride me-
dia. This may be due to the better solubility
of Cyanex 923 in kerosene as compared to
Cyanex 921. Agrawal et al. [42] used Cyanex
272 diluted in kerosene as an ecient solvent
for the separation and recovery of copper
and nickel from copper bleed stream. Hun-
dred percent copper extraction was achieved
in two counter-current stages at O:A ratio
of unity, whereas 100% stripping of cop-
per has been possible in two counter-current
stages at O:A ratio of 2:1. Begum et al. [43]
also studied the extraction of copper, nickel
and zinc using Cyanex 272. The extraction
studies were performed with variation in
parameters like equilibrium pH, extractant
concentration, sulphate and acetate ion con-
centration. The percentage extraction of all
metals increased with equilibrium pH and
maximum extraction has been achieved at
equilibrium pH of 5.3, 7.45 and 3.6 for cop-
per, nickel and zinc extraction, respectively
as given in Figure 4.
202-page 7
 S. Pradhan and S. Mishra: Metall. Res. Technol. 112, 202 (2015)
3 Separation
Separation of metals by solvent extraction is
usually based on the dierent complexing
properties of the metals. The binary sepa-
rations of first row transition metals from
hydrochloric acid medium are possible
using Cyanex 923, in which the metal ion
is selectively extracted at an appropriate
aqueous acidity [8]. For eective separation
of Zn, Cu, Mn, Co and Ni, DEHPA and PC
88A are considered to be suitable cation
exchangers [44]. The separation of copper
and zinc from leach solution of complex
sulphide ore has been reported [45, 46]. The
results indicate that LIX 64N selectively
extracted copper from copper-zinc solution.
The eciency of LIX 84 and LIX 64N for
the separation of copper and zinc from
solution containing iron and manganese
have been compared by Kumar et al. [47].
The analysis revealed that LIX 84 showed
greater selectivity for copper/zinc sepa-
ration in comparison to LIX 64N. Cheng
and group [48] studied the separation
of divalent metal ions from a synthetic
solution containing Zn, Cu, Co and Mg
using D2EHPA. Reddy and Priya [49, 50]
observed that extraction of metal is depen-
dent upon pH and developed a process for
separation of Cu (II), Ni (II) and Zn (II)
using LIX 84I. They also demonstrated that
temperature has no eect on the extraction.
Belkhouche et al. [51] have studied the ex-
traction of Cu (II) and Ni (II) from acetate
media with D2EPHA under the optimal con-
dition. The extraction of Cu (II) was found
to be 96%, 95%, and 85% in neutral, acetic
acid, and acetate buer media, respectively
and decreases with the increase in salt con-
centration in the aqueous phase. The con-
ditions for the separation of Cu (II) from
Ni (II) by D2 EHPA have been studied and
the separation factors are not very high.
Zhuo-Yue et al. [52] carried out the separa-
tion of copper and zinc from bioleaching so-
lution using LIX984 and D2EHPA under op-
timum extraction conditions. The separation
of Cu (II), Fe (III) and Zn (II) from mixed sul-
phate/chloride leach using TBP, LIX 841 and
Cyanex 923 in kerosene has been reported
by Sarangi et al. [53]. Xie et al. [54] have re-
ported on the separation of Cu (II), Zn (II),
and Cd (II) from a rich sulfate leachate of zinc
202-page 8
slag by solvent extraction. The results of the
experiments indicate that LIX 984N is highly
eective and very ecient for the extraction
of Cu (II) over Zn (II) and Cd (II). Using 25%
of LIX 984N concentration, copper has been
selectively extracted with seven minutes
shaking time, pH = 1.7 and 3:2 of O/A phase
ratio. The separation of Zn (II) and Cd (II)
was performed after the copper extraction
from the ranate. Qing-Ming et al. [55] re-
ported the separation of copper and iron us-
ing LIX 984 N in dexing copper mine. Using
1:1 O/A phase volume ratio, 98.5% copper
has been extracted. The pH value for quan-
titative separation of Cu and Fe has been
found to be 1.5. Experiments have been con-
ducted on the simultaneous and individual
extraction of metals (copper, nickel and zinc)
from their sulphate solutions using Cyanex
272 as an extractant. Eect of various pa-
rameters such as equilibrium pH, extractant
concentration, sulphate and acetate ion con-
centration have been investigated [56]. Se-
lective separation of copper and nickel from
ammoniacal/ammonium carbonate medium
has been carried out by LIX 984N diluted
with deodourised kerosene. The influence
of equilibration time, equilibrium pH, ex-
tractant concentration and selective strip-
ping of copper and nickel has been opti-
mized. It was found that extraction of both
the metals were unaected by the changes
in pH. The equilibration time was longer for
nickel in comparison to copper and nickel
extraction depends largely on the extractant
concentration in the organic phase [57]. A
study of the separation of zinc and copper
from the leach liquor generated in the treat-
ment of the zinc residue (29.6 g/L Zn and
37.4 g/L Cu) by liquidliquid extraction has
been reported [58]. In this, the influence of
the extractant type and concentration, aque-
ous phase acidity, contact time and strip-
ping agent concentration on the extraction
have been investigated. Sridhar et al. [59]
have eectively used LIX 984N for extrac-
tive separation of Cu, Ni and Zn. Since pH
plays a very significant role in separation,
it has been possible to separate the met-
als from one another based on their extrac-
tion behavior at dierent pH. Copper has
been extracted at an equilibrium pH of 3.5
while Ni and Zn at 7.3 and 8.8, respectively.
 S. Pradhan and S. Mishra: Metall. Res. Technol. 112, 202 (2015)
Fig. 5. Flowsheet for separation of Cu, Co and Mn using Cyanex272 and PC88A Reference [62].
In order to recover quantitative amount of
individual metal, two stage counter current
stripping has been done. Sahu and cowork-
ers [60] studied the separation of copper and
zinc using versatic10 acid and Cyanex 272
by optimizing various parameters such as
eect of pH, extractant concentration and
phase volume ratio. Pospiech [61] studied
the possibilities to recover copper from syn-
thetic sulphate leach liquor containing Co,
Ni and Mn. It was concluded that 99% of
Cu (II) can be eectively extracted with 5%
Kelex 100 and 10% LIX 70 at pH 2 while
10% of other metals are transported to the or-
ganic phase. Separation of Cu (II) from Co,
Ni, Mn is very eective and Cu (II) can be
successfully back extracted from loaded or-
ganic phase Kelex 100 by stripping with 2M
H2 SO4 . The proposed flow sheet for the sep-
aration is shown in Figure 5. Extraction and
separation of cobalt (II), copper (II) and man-
ganese (II) from sodium sulphate media by
Cyanex272, PC-88A and their mixtures in n-
heptane has been studied by Wang et al. [62].
They observed that the order of extraction is
Mn > Co > Cu. Kumar et al. [63] demon-
strated that 30% LIX 664N in kerosene at pH
2 eciently separates copper from nickel.
It has been reported by Pradhan et al. [64]
that temperature and shaking time variation
do not have any impact on the extraction of
Cu (II) and Fe (III) from 2M HCl medium
using Cyanex 921 as extractant in kerosene.
It has been found that separation is feasible
with shaking time of only 30 s at 300 K with
0.1 mol /L Cyanex 921 and from 2 M HCl.
4 Conclusions and future scope
Solvent extraction technique has been used
widely for copper production. It is mostly
applied to recover copper from the oxides.
It is a hydrometallurgical process which se-
lectively isolates and concentrates the de-
sired metal into a form from which it can
be recovered in a high state of purity. A
suitable organic extractant can be used for
selective extraction of desired metal or im-
purities depending on presence of anions
and cations and their concentration in the
solution. But due to growing demand and
recent advancement in the application of this
process for the recovery of copper from sul-
phide ores and waste products, research is in
progress. The leaching method of sulphide
202-page 9
 S. Pradhan and S. Mishra: Metall. Res. Technol. 112, 202 (2015)
ores results in large accumulation of sul-
phidic waste materials harmful to environ-
ment. Therefore, good leaching reagents and
new extractants are to be developed which
can reduce adverse environmental impacts.
Several researchers working with ionic liq-
uids in metal extraction have shown increas-
ing interest in this field due to its excellent
properties such as negligible vapor pressure,
good extraction eciency for metal ions (as
neutral or charged complexes), thermal sta-
bility and miscibility with water and organic
solvents [6567]. Extraction of copper using
ionic liquid as extractant has been carried
out. Chemical structure of the ionic liquid
cation is found to be important in deter-
mining the eciency of the extraction pro-
cess. This study reports development of one-
step extraction/stripping systems based on
ionic liquids in comparison with conven-
tional molecular solvents [68].
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to authorities of
SikshaOAnusandhan University for the encour-
agement to carry out this review work.
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