Jenny May A.

Anor Date Performed: December 05, 2016

LEACHING Date Submitted: December 21, 2016

I. Introduction

Leaching is the preferential solution of one or more compounds from a solid mixture by
contact with a liquid solvent. The solvent partially dissolves the solid material so that the
desired solute can be carried away.

Typical users include:

 the metals industry for removing mineral from ores (acid solvents)
 the sugar industry for removing sugar from beets (water is solvent)
 the oilseeds industry for removing oil from soybeans, etc. (hexane or similar organic
solvents)
The basic concepts of leaching also apply in the environment, where materials can be
leached out by rainwater and carried into the groundwater supply. A simple, everyday
example of a leaching process is making your morning coffee.

Leaching can be batch, semibatch, or continuous. It usually operates at an elevated

temperature to increase the solubility of the solute in the solvent. Calculations involve three
component (solid, solvent, solute) systems.

Feed to a leaching system typically is solid, consisting of basically insoluble carrier

material and a (usually desirable) soluble compound. The feed usually must be prepared by
grinding or chopping. It is then mixed with a liquid solvent. The desired material dissolves (to
some extent) and so leaves when the liquid is drawn off as overflow. The solids are then
removed as underflow. The underflow is wet, and so some of the solvent/solute mixture is
carried out here as well. Flow through a leaching system may be crosscurrent or
countercurrent.

Leaching is the process by which constituents of a solid material are released into a
contacting water phase. Although some species may be more of an environmental concern
than others, the leaching process is indiscriminant such that all constituents (e.g., major or
minor matrix components as well as inorganic, organic and radionuclide contaminants) are
released under a common set of chemical phenomena which may include mineral dissolution,
desorption and complexation, and mass transport processes. In turn, these phenomena are
affected by certain factors that can alter the rate or extent of leaching. Among these factors
are:
 internal chemical and physical reactions
 external stresses from the surrounding environment
 physical degradation of the solid matrix due to erosion or cracking, and
 loss of matrix constituents due to the leaching process itself.

The process of leaching includes the partitioning of contaminants between a solid and
liquid phase (e.g., assuming local equilibrium) coupled with the mass transport of aqueous or
dissolved constituents. Mass transport is the summation of diffusion, hindered diffusion,
tortuosity effects, and effective surface area effects through the pore structure of the material
to the environment. Important chemical factors, those that influence the liquid-solid
partitioning (LSP) of a constituent, include solution pH, redox, the presence of dissolved organic
matter, and biological activity. Physical factors, such as relative hydraulic conductivity, porosity
and fill geometry, play an important role in determining the rate at which constituents
transport through a solid into a passing liquid phase.

The process itself is universal, as any material exposed to contact with water will leach
components from its surface or its interior depending on the porosity of the material
considered.

In calculating the efficiency of the leaching equipment we will use,

Theoretical stages
%Efficiency= ×100% (5)
Actual stages

II. Objective
To determine the efficiency of the leaching equipment.

III. Materials Needed

Sand
Salt
Water
Screens
Leaching apparatus
Weighing balance
Oven
 IV. Methodology
1. Feed Preparation
a. Prepare 5 kilogram of sand (screened and washed)
b. Dissolve 1 kilogram of saturated solution of salt in the prepared sand for 24 h
ours.
c. Dry the feed using the oven.
d. Weigh the feed
e. Determine the amount of salt adhered to the sand.
2. Insert a 50-gram feed through continuous buckets except for the 8 vertical bucke
ts found at the right-most of the equipment.
3. Run the equipment using water as a solvent with constant flowrate of 18ml/s.
4. As the buckets (8-vertical buckets) passes on the flow of solvent, place a salt+san
d mixture until all buckets are filled-up.
5. Collect the extracted salt at the bottom of the equipment so the reflux at a 1 min
ute interval.
6. Determine the amount of salt recovered.

V. Results and Discussion

Table 1. Data of overflow using 18ml/s as flowrate

DESCRIPTION Trial
Total weight of mixture collected (g) 796
Average of mass water collected from aliquot (g) 9.872
Average weight of aliquot (g) 10
Total mass collected (g) 98.2264
Mass fraction of salt 0.125
% efficiency 37.50%
The data gathered during the leaching experiment were tabulated and the total mass of
salt collected were 98.2264g with a 37.5% efficiency of the equipment using a flowrate of 18ml/
s.

VI. Summary, Conclusion and Recommendations

Leaching equipment is widely used domestically and industrially. It is used to remove sol
uble components from a solid mixture by the use of a solvent. Feed to a leaching system typicall
y is solid, consisting of basically insoluble carrier material and a soluble compound. Feed prepar
ation was done using 5000 g of pebbles and 1000 g of salt. The pebbles were first washed with
distilled water to ensure that there are no entrained solutes. From the salt pebbles mixture, 10
0 cups weighing 50 g each were made. In the operation, the flowrate of tap water used was 18
mL/s. The flowrate was measured by measuring the discharged water within 5 seconds and was
held constant throughout the experiment.
The leaching equipment were able to recover the solute, salt, from the simulated feed
mixture with a 37.5% efficiency.The mass of solute recovered was 98.2264 g.Also, the average
mass fraction from the experiment was 0.125.It is therefore concluded that the leaching
equipment is not very effective in recovering the solute using a flowrate of 18 mL/s.
Based on the findings of the study the following recommendations were drawn.
1. Different flowrates should be used to further understand the effect of flowrate in the
leaching process
2. Different feed mixture ratio should also be used to determine the effects of feed
concentration in the leaching process
3. Different feed mixture other than salt and pebbles should also be used.

VII. Bibliography
McCabe, W.L., J.C. Smith, P. Harriott, Unit Operations of Chemical Engineering, 6th E
dition, McGraw-Hill, 2001, pp. 742
http://facstaff.cbu.edu/rprice/lectures/leach.html
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/leaching/leaching-process/

VIII. Appendices/Raw Data

Data at 18ml/s flowrate

Cup Number Volume Aliquot wt. of cruc wt. of crucible w/ salt wt. of salt recovered
ible
1 100 10 46.756 46.811 0.055
2 100 10 48.033 48.079 0.046
3 100 10 51.125 51.646 0.521
4 100 10 54.345 54.414 0.069
5 100 10 53.186 53.245 0.059
6 100 10 52.208 52.334 0.126
7 100 10 48.085 48.218 0.133
8 96 10 25.448 25.463 0.015
sum 1.024
 mass of water mass frxn
9.945 0.054
9.954 0.045
9.479 0.509
9.931 0.067
9.941 0.058
9.874 0.123
9.867 0.130
9.985 0.015
Ave: 9.872 0.125

IX. Sample Calculations

Sample calculations for Table 1:

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑

𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑡 𝑥 𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑤𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑜𝑡
= 𝑥 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑤𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑
𝐴𝑣𝑒 𝑤𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑜𝑡
(0.125 𝑥 9.872)
= 𝑥 (796) = 98.2264𝑔
10
𝐴𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡, 𝑉 = 5000𝑔

𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑤𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑜𝑡

𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑡, 𝐿𝑛 = 𝑉 − × 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑤𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤
𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑤𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑙𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑜𝑡

9.872
= 5000− ( ) 𝑥 796=4214.189g
10

Mass fraction of salt in underflow, Xn

1000−98.2264
Xn= = 0.214
4214.189

Solving for the concentration of y2;

𝐿′
𝑌2 = (𝑋 − 𝑋𝑛 ) + 𝑌𝑛+1
𝑉′ 1
 4214.189
𝑌2 = (0.5 − 0.214) + 0=0.24
5000

Solving for number of stage

(0.5−0.24)
𝑙𝑜𝑔
(0.214−0)
𝑁 =1+ (0.5−0.214) = 2.22≈ 3
𝑙𝑜𝑔
(0.24−0)

Solving for efficiency

𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 3
% 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 = 𝑋 100= 8 𝑥 100 = 37.50%
𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒