emew Blog

Basics of Cobalt Electrowinning in Under 3 Minutes

Posted by Sara Wollschlaeger on Sep 4, 2018 9:41:07 AM
When talking about electrowinning, copper, silver, and nickel always seem to be the center of attention.  However, with the recent advancements in electric vehicles and electronics, it’s Cobalt’s time to shine.
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Topics: Refinery Optimization

How can you increase the copper recovery of your SX-EW process by 8.9% in only 29 days?

Posted by Sara Wollschlaeger on Mar 6, 2018 4:00:19 PM

What is SX-EW?

Hydrometallurgical extraction is an effective way to recover copper from low-grade copper ores.
 
But how is it done?
 
Heap leaching is the method most commonly chosen for copper recovery from oxide ores. An acidic solution is used to leach the metal, dissolving the copper into what is referred to as a pregnant leach solution (PLS). This solution is collected and purified by solvent extraction (SX). SX is a two-step process of loading the copper into an organic solution, followed by stripping the copper from the organic, into an aqueous solution.
 
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Topics: Refinery Optimization

Can I recover copper from this? Copper recovery from the ground up

Posted by Trevor Bergfeldt on Oct 19, 2017 9:45:13 AM

A question that we hear from Clients every day is "Can I recover (copper - or other metals) from this?"  The material in question can be concentrated wastes, dilute effluents, ores, concentrates, residues, plating baths, bleed streams and so on.  It seems like a very easy and straightforward question to answer, and in some cases that is true.  In other cases, however, the answer is a bit more complicated requiring some additional information.  Let's take a closer look at the good, the bad, and the ugly when it comes to the common question "Can I recover (copper - or other metals) from this?"

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Topics: effluent treatment, environmental, copper, Wastewater Treatment, metal recycling, mining, Refinery Optimization, copper recovery, copper recycling

Enhanced methods for nickel recovery from low-grade ores and bleed streams

Posted by Sara Wollschlaeger on Sep 6, 2017 5:09:46 PM

Way back in elementary school when you thought of nickel, the first image that popped into your head was probably that nice shiny 5¢ coin. Even though we hardly carry change purses anymore, nickel is still ever present in our day-to-day lives. From the shiny stainless steel trim on your building, to the knives in your kitchen, nickel is found everywhere.With nickel becoming favoured for use in transport, power generation, cell phones, food preparation, and medical equipment, it leads one to think about where all of this nickel is coming from. 

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Topics: nickel, Refinery Optimization

Leaching in Metallurgy and Metal Recovery

Posted by Sara Wollschlaeger on Jul 10, 2017 12:57:15 PM

Tea & Metal Recovery: An Unlikely Comparison

What do your morning cup of tea and a metal recovery plant have in common? Not a whole lot, is what you would hope! However, this is where you are mistaken. The simple act of steeping tea is, in fact, very similar to the process of leaching in metal recovery.

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Topics: Leaching, Refinery Optimization

Metal recovery plants - monitoring, optimization, and fault prevention.

Posted by Alex Barshai on Jun 27, 2017 11:37:45 AM

With much of the world rapidly progressing towards everything IoT, machine learning, and smart algorithms, many resource-based companies in industries such as mining, refining, and other industrial areas are still dragging their feet. The need is there, the technology is available – so what prevents some companies from jumping on the data analytics train?

Let’s look at some operational parameters that can be affected by lack of action and how technology can benefit the metal recovery industry.

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Topics: Data Analytics, Refinery Optimization

10 Questions Answered About Electrowinning and Electrorefining

Posted by Alex Barshai on Apr 17, 2017 9:33:41 AM

 

1. What is electrowinning?

Electrowinning is a process in which metal ions present in an electrically conductive solution are separated using a direct current. This is achieved when a direct current is applied across an anode and cathode that are submerged in an electrically conductive solution causing the metal to deposit on the cathode. We say that metals like these were electrowon.

 

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Topics: electrowinning, Refinery Optimization

3 Methods of Nonferrous Metal Recycling

Posted by Alex Barshai on Apr 10, 2017 2:37:54 PM

In a world that is increasingly demanding sustainability, nonferrous metal recycling has become a very important practice. Opting for recycling does not only mean being responsible for the environment and reducing the carbon footprint, it is also a very reasonable business in industries that rely on using non-renewable resources.

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Topics: Wastewater Treatment, metal recycling, electrowinning, Refinery Optimization

Applications of Copper Electrowinning

Posted by Trevor Bergfeldt on Apr 4, 2017 12:47:28 PM

The electrowinning of copper is an electrolytic process that uses electricity to recover dissolved copper from solution as copper plate, also known as ‘cathode’.


Cu2+(aq) + 2e- -->Cu(s)        (E= +0.34V)

 

Copper easily dissolves in acids including sulphuric, nitric and hydrochloric. Recovering copper cathode from acidic sulphate solutions using electrowinning is a well-known and fairly straightforward process that has been in commercial use since the late 19th century.

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Topics: copper, electrowinning, emew, Refinery Optimization

[VIDEO] emew Advanced Copper Liberators

Posted by Sonny Samra on Mar 28, 2017 12:33:53 PM
Thanks for joining me today for this discussion on emew advanced liberators. Let's start by looking at a simplified copper refining process flow diagram. Copper Concentrate is fed to the smelting process where fire-refined copper is produced. Next onto anode casting, where 99% anode copper is formed followed by electrorefining of copper to produce LME grade copper cathode. But we aren’t done there, the refinery bleed is then sent to copper liberators to control the copper concentration and impurities in the process. It is at this step, where we will focus our time today.
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Topics: electrowinning, mining, emew, Refining, Refinery Optimization