Analysis of continuous solvent extraction of nickel from spent electroless nickel plating baths by a mixer-settler

It is urgent to develop an effective technique to treat the large amount of spent electroless nickel plating bath and recycle the high concentration nickel. In our previous study, high recycling efficiency of nickel from the model spent bath was obtained by continuous solvent extraction with 2-hydroxy-5-nonylacetophenone oxime (LIX84I) as the extractant and 2-ethylhexylphosphonic acid mono-2-ethylhexyl ester (PC88A) as the accelerator using a mixer-settler extractor. It was observed that the extraction efficiency was affected by the operation parameters such as the flow rates of the aqueous and organic phases and the total stage number. In the present study, the effects of the operation parameters on the extraction efficiency were quantitatively studied on the basis of the pseudo-first-order interfacial extraction rate equation together with the hydrodynamic properties in the mixer. The organic phase holdup, measured under varying conditions of the flow rates of both phases, was analyzed by the Takahashi-Takeuchi holdup model in order to estimate the specific interfacial area. The overall extraction rate coefficients defined by the product of the interfacial extraction rate constant and the specific interfacial area were evaluated using the experimental data and ranged from 3.5 x 10(-3) to 6.7 x 10(-3)s(-1), which was close to the value of 3.4 x 10(-3)s(-1) obtained by batch extraction. Finally, an engineering simulation method was established for assessing the extraction efficiency of nickel during a multistage operation.