Copper Extraction and Recovery from Wastewater of Gold Smelting

The extraction technology was used to recover copper from wastewater of gold smelting process and the effect of extractant concentration,ratio of oil phase to aqueous phase(O/A),mixing time and pH value was studied.The optimal process condition was obtained as follows: extractant concentration is 20%,O/A is 2:1,mixing time is 3min and pH value is 1.5～2.In the optimal condition,the industrial tests were carried out.The results shows that the extraction rate of copper can be above 95% and copper ionic concentration can be above 36 g/L in stripping solution which meets requirements of copper electrowinning.This process realizes copper recovery in high efficiency.