Coupled Electrochemical Sulfide Mineral Dissolutioon and Metal Recovery in Halide Media

Using an efficient technology to produce higher quality products at lower monetary and environmental costs has been an interest of all metal producers. Research and development in metallurgy has led to development of new methods of metal production; however, for most nonferrous metals, the linkage between the pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical processing steps has been strong. The elimination of the pyrometallurgical step would require its replacement by an equally efficient and more cost effective processing step. This can be achieved by the appropriate electrochemical coupling of the leaching and the electrowinning processes. This technology describes a process that electrochemically couples the leaching and electrowinning processes and allows for simple and safe treatment of wastes for the recovery of gold and silver contained in minerals.

Benefits
Metal production is a multi billion dollar industry. This technology could be applied in direct metal production from mineral ores.


Stage of Development
This technology is part of an active and ongoing research program and is available for developmental research support/licensing under either exclusive or non-exclusive terms.

Additional Info
*M. L. Free, �Electrochemical Coupling of Metal Extraction and Electrowinning,� in Electrometallurgy 2001, ed. J. A. Gonzales, J. Dutrizac, pp. 235-260, 2001
*http://www.cc.utah.edu/~mlf5/

Inventor(s): Michael Free

Type of Offer: Licensing



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