need help with seperation

if anyone one know the processes involved please reply as i think this would help a lot of people out there like myself.

bassically want to try to get the hcl out of a/p solution for reuse again.


is there a way and if so what is the process.

or can one just drop copper with iron. filter it off and reuse it that way or will dropping the copper with iron use up all the hcl that is in it .i know that any extra water that's been added to it through water washes has weaken it but can one boil off the extra water as it has a boiling point of 100 and hcl has a boiling point of 110 to concentrate it down some.

In a simple statement, distillation will do that for you.

But before doing it in your bedroom or some other unsuitable place you need to do the proper research. HCl is a gas that dissolved in water creates hydrochloric acid. Distilling this creates a lot of problems, like emitting a lot of HCl fumes that can hurt people and corrode any metal in the vicinity, especially iron and steel. You need a suitable space for this.
To catch the HCl gas you also need to bubble the gas through cold water. That can create a suck-back of the acid into the distillation apparatus when you run out of the source liquid, which can create a steam explosion in a worst case scenario.

Watch this video to see how violent the suck-back can be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGjd7xxTuZw

What I'm saying is, be safe and ponder if you really need to save a few dollars on reusing the HCl left in solution.

Göran

If it's a mature AP solution, I wouldn't expect there to be much, if any, HCl in the solution. The hydrogen peroxide would have been consumed oxidizing the copper when the leach was started. The HCl is used up as the copper is dissolved, becoming a solution of CuCl₂.

Dave

I`ve been trying to limit my daily forum exposure to read-only, due to a recent time constraints, but this one is a topic I have wondered about myself.

OP, perhaps you meant re-using your AP by electrowinning (?) copper metal out of the Copper II ? Chloride solution - If so, I think it can be done - quite simple in fact! There was some nice info in one of the many PDF`s about AP method - perhaps some older member can shine some light on the subject. I tried it myself and It worked very well - metals (mainly copper, don`t know about other impurities) deposit on the kathode, solution clears up and is still very acidic...

-Artūrs

The problem with electrowinning from a chloride solution is that it is very easy to produce chlorine gas at the cathode, and/or seriously damage the cathode.
To avoid the first one you need to keep a close watch on the electrode voltage. To avoid cathode damage you need to use inert anodes as lead oxid or platinum coated titanium. Graphite works for a while but could be seriously eroded by gas formation inside the graphite and that rips off the surface until the electrode is broken down.

There is a possible closed cycle where CuCl is oxidized into CuCl₂ by electrolysis while extracting metallic copper.
2 CuCl -> Cu + CuCl₂. As this is going against the natural progression, we need to add an external energy source in the form of two electrodes.
This is quite tricky but there are automatic systems out there, refreshing copper chloride leach used in circuit manufacturing.

In refining there is another problem, and that is fouling of the electrolyte. It is seldom we work with pure gold plate on copper and contaminants builds up fast.

Göran

niks neims said:

I`ve been trying to limit my daily forum exposure to read-only, due to a recent time constraints, but this one is a topic I have wondered about myself.

OP, perhaps you meant re-using your AP by electrowinning (?) copper metal out of the Copper II ? Chloride solution - If so, I think it can be done - quite simple in fact! There was some nice info in one of the many PDF`s about AP method - perhaps some older member can shine some light on the subject. I tried it myself and It worked very well - metals (mainly copper, don`t know about other impurities) deposit on the kathode, solution clears up and is still very acidic...

-Artūrs

Click to expand...

Waste of time mate.