KINETICS OF METAL EXTRACTION - MODEL DISCRIMINATION AND PARAMETER-ESTIMATION

A new systematic method for the study of liquid-liquid systems in metal extraction is described. The method permits the discrimination of the kinetic model and the estimation of the chemical and mass transfer parameters. The theoretical background is discussed using the extraction of zinc by di(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid as an example. It is shown that the experimental analysis of liquid-liquid systems with chemical reactions can be simplified by suitably designed experiments, which also increases the accuracy in parameter estimation. The method is finally applied to the estimation of the rate constant of chemical reaction and the mass transfer parameters of the above-mentioned system in a non-dispersive stirred cell. Results are in good agreement with the values reported in the literature. © 1990.