August 17 – 13:00-13:45
Symposium: Chloride Metallurgy
60th Conference of Metallurgists COM 2021
Bryn Harris, Consultant
https://com.metsoc.org/keynote-speakers/
It has long been appreciated that chloride chemistry has a number of advantages over the more traditional sulfate route for both extracting and separating metals. Modern materials of construction, coupled with the development of a more cost-effective and efficient hydrochloric acid regeneration technology mean that chloride-based processes offer both lower capital and operating cost advantages. Chloride-based processing routes are able to recover much more of the contained metal values in a feed, including iron in a benign and marketable form, and particularly the so-called rare and rare-earth elements which are increasing in demand in our electronic age. These factors, therefore, add appreciably both to the overall economics of a project, but also offer a much more sustainable approach to our dwindling natural resources. Additionally, chloride-based flowsheets are much more environmentally-friendly, offering practical alternatives to two of the biggest headaches faced by the industry, namely residue volume and toxicity. The paper presents a brief theoretical background review, focusing on the laterst developments of the low-temperature, selective hydrovhloric acid regeneration process, which is the key unit operation for any chloride flowsheet, and discusses in general the advantages of the chloride approach.
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