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Removal of a substance from a solid via a liquid media

Desired component diffuses into the solvent from its natural
solid form
Ex. - removal of sugar from sugar beets with hot water &
removal of nickel salts or gold from their natural solid beds
with sulfuric acid solutions

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 Leaching is a solid-liquid separation method which involves preferential solvation of
one component, the solute, of a solid mixture into a liquid solvent.

•Diffusion of the solute through the solid is slow and complicates the separation process
in practice because equilibrium is difficult to attain .

• It is also difficult to completely disengage the solid and liquid phases.

Diffusion through solids

is slow
slow

C A B
B
Solid exits wet

A,B
A

The ideal case is one where all of B is leached out of solid A.

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 Leaching
Solvent Solid-free
liquid
C
Overflow
B,C

Underflow
B,C (liquid)
Solid Feed A (solid)
A (carrier) Solid-liquid
B (solute) slurry
(B only in liquid)

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 Leaching - extraction of certain materials from a carrier into a liquid
(usually, but not always a solvent)
 Leaching (agriculture), the loss of water-soluble plant nutrients from the
soil; or applying a small amount of excess irrigation to avoid soil salinity
 Leaching (chemical science), the process of extracting minerals from a
solid by dissolving them in a liquid
 Leaching (metallurgy), a widely used extractive metallurgy technique
which converts metals into soluble salts in aqueous media
◦ Dump leaching, an industrial process to extract metals from ore
taken directly from the mine and stacked on the leach pad without
crushing
◦ Heap leaching, an industrial process to extract metals from ore which
has been crushed into small chunks
◦ Tank leaching, a hydrometallurgical method of extracting valuable
material from ore
◦ In-situ leaching, a process of recovering minerals such as copper and
uranium through boreholes drilled into the deposit

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 Bioleaching, the extraction of specific metals from their ores
through the use of bacteria
 In cooking, leaching generally refers to Parboiling
 Parboiling partial boiling of food as the first step in the
cooking process
 Add the food items to boiling water and cook them until they
start to soften and then removing them before they are fully
cooked
 Parboiling - used to precook item which will then be cooked
another way
 Parboiled rice- raw rice or paddy is dehusked by using steam,
changes the colour of rice from white to a bit reddish
 Dakshina Kannada and Udupi, in the state of Kerala, and in
most parts of Tamil Nadu in India

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 Typical users include:
* Metals industry for removing mineral from ores
(acid solvents)
* sugar industry for removing sugar from beets
(water is solvent)
* oilseeds industry for removing oil from soybeans,
etc. (hexane or similar organic solvents)

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 Copper minerals from their ores by sulfuric acid or ammonical
solution
 Gold separated from its ores by sodium cyanide solution
 Metallurgical processing – Al, Co, Mn, Ni, Zn etc.
 Sugar from sugar beet by hot water
 Vegetable oils from seeds – soybeans & cottonseed by organic
solvent
 Tannin from tree barks by water
 Pharmaceutical products recovered – plant roots & leaves
 Preparation of Tea & Coffee

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 Prior treatment of solid
 Small soluble particles are covered with insoluble matter.
 The solvent must pass through the mass of solid in order to
leach the soluble matter (Solute).
 Crushing & grinding accelerate the leaching action – soluble
matter is more accessible to solvent.
 Leaching of copper ore by sulfuric acid solution within
+ 4 to 8 hrs – if 60 mesh screen material is used
+ 5 days – if 6 mm granules are used
+ 4 to 6 yrs – 150 mm lumps are used.
 Grinding – expensive then size of the material leached is
important .

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 Gold ore – tiny metallic ores scattered throughout – grind to pass
thro’ 100 mm screen – leaching to occur
 Soluble substance uniformly distributed – no grinding is required.
 Sugar beets cut into thin, wedge shaped slices called “cossettes”
– reduce leaching time for water to reach the individual plant
cells.
 Pharmaceutical products form plant roots, stems & leaves –
dried – rupture cell walls for exposing solute to solvent.
 Vegetable seeds, beans – soybeans – rolled or flaked – size 0.15
to 0.5 mm
 Solute adhered on surface of solid particle – no grinding or
crushing

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 Batch Operation (Unsteady state)
 Semi-batch Operation (Unsteady state)
 Continuous Operation (Steady state)
 Major handling technique – spraying or trickling liquid over
solid, completely immersed in liquid
 Equipment Selection: +
physical form of solid +
difficulties & cost of handling

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 In-Place (In Situ) Leaching
 Heap Leaching
 Shanks System
 Percolation Tank

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 Known as Solution Mining, the percolation leaching of
minerals in place at the mine, by circulation of the solvent
over and through the ore body.
 Used regularly to remove salt from its deposit below earth’s
crust by pumping water down to the deposit.
 Applied to the leaching of low grade copper ore (0.25 Copper)
 Applicable to ore located at 335 m (1100 ft) depth or below.
 Uranium mining using carbonate solution.
 Phosphate rock

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 5-Spot unit (source: LIS)

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 Minerals not directly exposed ore-body
 Very little dust
 Reduced radon release & radiation from ore solution
 Less expensive operation - large amounts of rock do not have to
be broken up & removed
 Shorter time of production
 No solid waste
 Less costly to build - no expensive infrastructure of open-cut and
underground mining, i.e. shafts, tunnels, crushers
 Less ground disturbance
 Less rehabilitation - completion of mining, wells - sealed &
capped, process facilities removed & surface returned to its
original contour
 Smaller, lower grade & narrower ore bodies - mined

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 Mined ore crushed into small chunks & heaped on
impermeable plastic and/or clay lined leach pad - irrigated
with a leach solution
 Sprinklers, or often drip irrigation (minimize evaporation)
 Solution - percolates through heap & leache - precious metal
 Several weeks
 Very slow process
 May take several months to extract 50% of the target mineral

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 Copper Ores
+ copper leached – pyrite ore by sulfuric acid
+ byproduct - iron sulfate, jarosite, sometimes sulfuric acid
+ heap – 2.2* 107 t ore, 20,000 m3 of leach liquor per day
+ 7 or more yrs – reduce Cu content of 2 to 0.3 %
 Uranium Ores
+ Perforated drain pipe on impervious clay base
+ Ore piles on top of pipes
+ heap – 6 to 8 m tall, trapezoidal c/s, 120 m wide at base, 800 m long
+ leach solution –sulfuric acid
+ final product – yellowcake, significant further processing to produce
fuel-grade feed

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 Counter current multiple contact
 Six tank system
 Assume at time of inspecting system – in operation for some
time
 Tank-6 empty, tanks 1 to 5 filled with solid, tank 5 recently &
tank 1 for longest time, tank 1 to 5 filled – leach liquid
 Tank 5 – most concentrated – contact with fresh solid, fresh
solvent added – tank 1
 Concentrated solution withdrawn from tank 5, liquid transfer
from 4 →5, 3 → 4, 2 →3, 1 →2 & fresh solid tank 6
 Discard spent solid from tank 1, transfer liquid from 5 →6, 4
→5, 3 → 4 & 2 → 3, add fresh solvent to tank 2
 Circumstances same as before only tank no. advanced by 1
 Continue operation in same manner

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 After several run concentration of solution & solid in each
tank – values closely – continuous counter-current multistage
leaching
 System can operated with any no. of tank ( 6 to 16)
 Need not be in circle arrangement, better placed in row-
extraction battery
 Additional tanks added if desired
 Tanks kept progressively decreasing levels, pumping cost of
liquid low
 Applications
◦ Metallurgical industries
◦ Recovery of tannins from tree barks or woods
◦ Leaching sodium nitrate from Chilean nitrate- bearing rock (Caliche)

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 Solid – intermediate size – percolation in open tank
 Construction of tank
◦ Nature of solid & liquid
◦ Size of operation
 Small tanks – wood – if not attacked by leach solution
◦ Solid particle – false bottom – wooden strips parallel/ right angles – 150
mm apart – leach solution pass thro’
◦ Fine solid particles – strips covered with coconut matting, tightly
stretched canvas filter cloth
 Small tanks – metal – perforated false bottom – filter cloth –
pharmaceutical products from plant
 Very large tank ( 45 * 34 * 5.5 m deep) – reinforced concrete
& lined with lead or bituminous

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 Small tank –side door near bottom for removing leached solution
 Large tank – emptied by excavating from top
 Solid of uniform size - % of voids largest, pressure drop least,
uniform leaching, less liquid channeling difficulty
 Tank filled with solid, batch of solvent pumped into tank
allowed to soak for prescribed time, liquid then withdrawn from
false bottom – single stage
 Repetition – dissolve all solute, retained solute – treated with
fresh solvent

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 Agitated vessels
 Thickeners
 Hydro cyclones
 Classifier
 Rotocel
 Kennedy extractor
 Bollman extractor

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 Channeling of solvent avoided
 Slow & incomplete leaching avoided by stirring liquid & solid
 Coarse solid
◦ closed cylindrical vessels – vertical , power driven paddles or stirrer on
vertical shaft, false bottom for drainage
◦ Horizontal vessel- stirrer horizontal shaft
◦ Horizontal Drum – solid , liquid tumbled by rotation of drum on rollers
 Operation –Batch wise, Single stage leaching
 European & South America – leaching vegetable oils from
seed

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 Mechanical device
 Designed – continuously increasing ratio of solid to liquid –
dilute suspension of fine particles – by settling & decanting
 Two product – clear liquid & thick sludge
 Used before filter – reduce filtering cost
 Wash leached solids & chemical precipitates
 Single compartment thickeners of Dorr-Oliver Company’s
 Thin slurry of liquid & suspended solids – feed well at top
center – avoid mixing with clear liquid
 Solid settles , directed toward discharge cone at bottom of four
set of blades –revolving slowly
 Sludge pumped from discharge cone by diaphragm pump

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 Clear liquid overflow – launder at upper periphery of tank
 Size – 2 to 180 m D for granular / flocculent solids
 Different design – size & service
 Reduce ground area – several thickeners parallel –
superimposed – deliver single sludge product
 Less liquid retained – efficient leaching

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 Modification of shank system
 Leaching tanks continuously move
 Continuous introduction & discharge of solids
 Circular rotor – 18 cells – hinged screen bottom – supporting
solids – slowly revolving
 Rotor revolves – each cell pass thro’ feeding device – seeds,
series of sprays – periodically solvent
 After each revolution – leached content of each cell
automatically dumped – lower stationary compartment –
continuously conveyed away
 Solvent percolate downward thro’ solid , screen to downward
compartment of lower tank – continuously pumped to next
spray

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 Leaching - countercurrent
 Strongest solution taken from freshest seeds
 No. of mechanical devices – smooth operation
 Machine – enclosed in vapor tight housing – prevent solvent
vapors

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 Stage wise device used since 1927
 Leaching tannins from tanbark
 Now – oilseed & other leaching operation
 Solid leached in series of tubs – pushed from one to next in
cascade by paddles
 Solvent flows in counter current
 Paddles perforated – drainage of solids between stages
 Solids scraped from each paddle
 No. tubs placed in cascade - required

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 Several basket machine
 Solids conveyed in perforated baskets attached to a chain
conveyor, down on right & up on left
 Leaching – parallel flow by dilute solvent –oil solution ( half
miscella) – pumped from bottom of vessel & sprayed over
baskets at top
 Liquid percolates thro’ solids from basket to basket, collect at
bottom as final strong solution of oil ( full miscella) –removed
 On ascent – solids leached counter-currently by spray of fresh
solvent to provide half miscella
 Short drainage time – before baskets dumped at top
 Horizontal arrangement

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 Pachuca tanks are air agitated slurry reactors used as leaching
vessels in Hydrometallurgical industries for extraction of non
ferrous metals like, uranium, gold, zinc an copper etc.
 They are cylindrical in cross section with a conical bottom and
may be equipped with draft tube.
 Draft tubes are central tubes running parallel to the length of
the tank, extends from just above the air injection point to be
point a few centimeter below the free surface of water.
 Tanks are made of wood, metal, concrete lined with lead.
 Solid are settled in same or separate vessel after agitation.

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 Extent of leaching
 Amount of soluble substance leached from solid
◦ Initial solute content of solid
◦ No. & amount of washing with solvent
◦ Concentration of solute in solvent
◦ Batch or continuous counter-current operation

 Stage: two insoluble phases contact – substances distribute

between phases, separated, entire operation & equipment

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 Simple batch leaching operation
 Solid leached with more than enough solvent to dissolve all
soluble solid
 No adsorption of solvent or solute on solid
 In sufficient time – all solute dissolved
 Mixture – slurry of insoluble solid immersed in solution of
solute in solvent
 Insoluble phases separated – settling, filtration or drainage –
one stage
 Perfect separation – no solute in solid
 Equilibrium stage – 100% stage efficiency

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 Practically stage efficiency < 100%
◦ Solute – incompletely dissolved – inadequate contact time
◦ Perfect solid-liquid separation –impractical
◦ Solids leaving stage – retains some liquid & dissolved solute
◦ Solute adsorbed by solid – imperfect settling or draining

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 Graphical calculation – easier – graphical representation of
equilibrium condition
 Three component system
◦ Pure solvent (A)
◦ Insoluble solid (B)
◦ Soluble solute (C)
 Graphical representation on – Rectangular coordinates
 Concentration of insoluble solute B in mixture/ slurry :
N = mass B / mass (A + C )
 Composition of solute C – wt fraction
◦ x = wt fraction C in effluent solution
◦ y = wt fraction C in solid/slurry

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 Solid phase is represented by the upper line

SOLID PHASE

Y=B/(A+C)

LIQUID PHASE

0 1
xA, yA

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 Mixture of insoluble solid – all solute leached – suspended in
solution of solute in solvent – M1
 Concentration of clear solution = x
 Ratio of insoluble solid to solution = NM1
 Insoluble solid – non-adsorbent
 Mixture settled – clear liquid – R1 & remaining sludge
(insoluble solid in small solution)
 Concentration of solid B in sludge – NE1 – time , E1 – slurry
 Vertical tie line – E1R1 – two effluent streams – clear liquid &
slurry
 E1 & R1 – practical condition of equilibrium
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 Solute and Solvent are Infinitely Soluble
 Ex. Soybean oil (C) , soybean meal (B) ,
hexane (A)
 Curve DFE – separated solid
 Curve GHJ – withdrawn solution
composition
 Above N = 0, Some of the solid is soluble
in the solvent or is in suspension
 Tie lines show unequal distribution
between phases
 Tie line – not vertical
◦ Insufficient contact time for leaching
◦ Adsorption of solute
◦ Solute soluble in solid – unequal distribution in
solid & liquid phase

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 No adsorption of Solute
 Withdrawn solution & solution with
solid – same composition – tie lines
vertical
 Line KL horizontal – settled at same
extent at all solute concentration -
Constant Underflow
 Overflow Solution does not
conation any insoluble matter B.

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 Solute has limited solubility in
Solvent
 xS - the strongest clear solution
that can be obtained – lines
joining slurry & saturated solution
converge
 Mixture right of PS forms clear
solution (S) and slurry (U) based
on mix point M
 T – composition of pure solid
solute after drainage or settling of
saturated solution
 Mixture left of PS forms - clear
overflow liquid – tie line vertical

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