Solvent Extraction for the 21st
Century
Proceedings of ISEC'99
ISBN: Volume 1: ISBN 0-901001-83-X 848pp
Volume 2: ISBN 0-901001-84-8 912pp
Edited by: Mike Cox,
(Department of Physical Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, UK);
Manuela Hidalgo (Department de Química, Universitat de Girona,
Spain); Manuel Valiente (Department de Química, Universitat
Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain)
2001
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Based on the International Solvent Extraction Conference symposium
held in July 1999 in Barcelona, Spain
FOREWORD
The property of a chemical species to move between immiscible liquid
phases has revolutionised the science of separations in the millennium
that finishes soon. During the present century, the most significant
event has been the growth and development of the field of Solvent
Extraction. This technique has lead to hundreds of separation methods
and thousands of systems that have been described, investigated
and several of which have successfully been applied to solve, in
a unique manner, complicated problems in the industrial fields of
hydrometallurgy, petrochemical, food, pharmaceutical, environmental,
waste treatment and analytical chemistry. Scientific and technologically
the most important contribution of liquid-liquid distribution studies
has been to the acquisition of basic knowledge in co-ordination
chemistry, chemical thermodynamics, interfacial phenomena, hydrodynamics
of two phases and mechanisms of chemical reactions, as well as process
development, equipment design and process control. It must be emphasised
that such knowledge has been applied not only to process separations
but also to other important aspects of the areas mentioned above,
i.e., development of chemical sensors, controlled release devices,
etc.
Because of this record of achievement, Solvent Extraction can be
considered as a mature technique and thus further innovation becomes
more difficult. This is always a challenge to practitioners in the
technique, but it never will be a final barrier in itself, unless
we confuse the creation of scientific knowledge with the opportunity
of obtaining funds for research. In addition, at this moment, when
environmental concern has reached a significantly high social and
scientific consideration, the name of Solvent Extraction is sometimes
interpreted as a negative factor that has been reflected in some
political decisions. We know well that again, this is a consequence
of ignorance, but still, we must consider this fact and include
it in the real scientific and technological challenges.
The area of Solvent Extraction has several well-identified areas
and topics with specific demands for scientific and technological
research. Some of these areas are related to the chemistry
of Solvent Extraction and include: the need for speciation studies
of the compounds formed both in the aqueous and organic phases during
the operation of the process; understanding the interrelation between
chemical thermodynamics vs. real operation; the role of the diluent
in relation to its chemical nature; degradation of reagents as an
important chemical factor that influences system performance. In
addition, there are the new methods for Solvent Extraction which
include: non-dispersed extraction; microemulsions; extraction chromatography;
etc.
Yet another area is concerned with the engineering aspects of Solvent
Extraction and here a proper understanding of modelling of both
the chemistry and system design is important. Also here there is
a lack of data on thermodynamics in concentrated solutions which
is the typical situation in plant operations. Monitoring and control
of the process is an area which needs specific attention. Monitoring
of the two phase process is a system dependent problem which possesses
several weak points that are key factors to the advance of the appropriate
knowledge to predict the behaviour of solvent extraction systems.
Therefore it is important that both specific on-line analytical
equipment and robust monitoring techniques should be implemented
in the Solvent Extraction process.
Concerning the environmental aspects, the real impact of the Solvent
Extraction process must be characterised in several areas: the health
effects of solvents and solutions; toxicity of new hazardous reagents;
fire hazards; treatment of wastes. In addition design of equipment
must also address safety i.e., minimising venting, use of columns,
entrainment. These are all considered in an overall risk assessment
analysis.
These are just a few aspects of the challenge to be faced by future
practitioners in the subject.
So, the International Solvent Extraction Conference has come to
Barcelona, the capital city of Catalunya (Spain), in July 1999.
Most of the above mentioned areas in need of research and development
have been the subject of excellent contributions from the participants
and will be presented and discussed during the Conference sessions.
We understand that such an international meeting to discuss Solvent
Extraction has to provide the facilities to make the transmission
of knowledge easier, to stimulate the will to meet the exciting
challenges we are now facing and to make Solvent Extraction attractive
to newcomers. To accomplish this, we have organised the International
Solvent Extraction School to take place simultaneously with the
Conference, and invited international experts to provide tutorials
in their fields of expertise and thus to increase our knowledge
of Solvent Extraction.
During preparations for the Conference the idea presiding over
all the discussions and plans was the question:
Will this way of thinking, studying, developing and applying
the optimum give the answers to the actual needs and competitiveness
that may arise in the next century?
The Organising Committee has been working to try to answer this
question, and we believe that ISEC'99 will be able to provide an
appropriate answer. For all their work and dedication which has
gone to make ISEC'99 possible, I would like to thank all members
of the Organising Committee because without them this Conference
would not have been possible.
The Organising Committee in turn wish to express their warm appreciation
to all the authors for their contribution and to all those who will
be attending ISEC'99 and thus contributing to a most exciting and
enjoyable Conference. We thank you for accepting our invitation
to meet on the Mediterranean and we hope you will have happy memories
of this meeting.
These Proceedings have been compiled from electronic versions of
papers submitted by the authors after refereeing and have not been
submitted to full textual editing by the editors. We hope that they
will provide a valuable resource for the future.
Manuel Valiente
Chairman, Organising Committee
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