Reactive Extraction In Stirred Columns – A Review

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Abstract
The use of liquid ion exchangers enables one to perform selective separations with reactive extraction of species such as metal ions or acids. For the simulation of countercurrent column performance, three major outstanding issues have to be tackled: The first step is in a description of reactive equilibria, based on Gibbs excess modeling, taking into account complex formation involving aqueous electrolytes and organic species. In addition to physical extraction, the mass transfer co‐efficient must be determined by taking into account diffusional and/or chemical reaction resistances. Finally, the column hydrodynamics have to be considered, where the state of the art design is to consider the deviation from plug flow with one parameter (e.g. the axial dispersion co‐efficient). The development of droplet population methods, and the helpful information from CFD‐calculations for the improvement of the physical understanding of complex flows, will be discussed. The use of lab‐scale equipment to estimate all necessary design parameters involving a minimum of matter, is also presented.