Continuous Countercurrent Ion Exchange In Hydrometallurgical Separators

ION exchange recovery of uranium has been proved successful in many operating plants in various parts of the world. First used in column plants processing clear liquors, ion exchange has more recently been applied in basket resin-in-pulp systems. A logical further development is the application of truly continuous processing techniques to the ion exchange recovery of metals, since previous systems have been semicontinuous at best. Column ion exchange is a valuable technique and has been used extensively in South Africa and elsewhere. However, it requires clear liquors. To produce these clear liquors, considerable investment in filter plant and clarification equipment is necessary. In the cases where it is very difficult or impossible to produce clarified liquors, column ion exchange is not so useful. Moreover, some liquors suffer from post-precipitation after clarification, which can become a serious problem.