Application of Taguchi L۱۶ design method for Iron Removal from Copper Electrowinning Solution using Solvent Extraction

Iron is a common impurity in copper ore. The presence of iron in the hydrometallurgical copper process causes continuous reactions between Fe (II) and Fe (III) ions and these reactions waste electricity. To improve the energy efficiency and product quality, iron shall be removed. In this study separation of iron from Sarcheshme copper electrowinning solution containing ۶ g/L Fe, was conducted by solvent extraction using Di-(۲-Ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid. According to previous studies, five parameters have been chosen to be observed: temperature, contact time, phase ratio, initial pH and Extractant concentration. Taguchi approach (L۱۶ orthogonal array) was utilized as the experiment design method and an optimum condition was observed according to S/N ratio and mean plots. The Results of extraction experiments under the optimized condition indicate ۸۹% iron recovery and ۰.۷۸% copper extraction which is more than ۹۰% close to predictions by Taguchi. Also, analysis of variance was performed to determine the contribution of different parameters to the results. It was observed that the most effective factor in iron removal and copper co-extraction is phase ratio

کلیدواژه ها:

Iron removal ، Solvent Extraction ، Optimization ، Copper Electrowinning ، Taguchi method