pela orientação e acompanhamento na realização desse trabalho. Ao Prof. Dr. Jorge Alberto Soares Tenório por ter disponibilizado o laboratório para o desenvolvimento do trabalho. Aos meus pais, Rosimar e Paulo Aliprandini, que sempre acreditaram na minha capacidade e apoiaram minhas decisões. Ao meu irmão Eduardo Aliprandini pelo apoio e exemplo de dedicação. Aos meus familiares e amigos que sempre estiveram presentes mesmo distantes geograficamente. À Daniella Cardoso Buzzi que foi quem me apresentou aos professores. Pela amizade e carinho que começou em Porto Alegre e se fortaleceu nesse reencontro. À Mónica Maria Jiménez Correa pela paciência, amizade, dedicação e total apoio para a elaboração e execução desse trabalho, sem a qual essa jornada teria sido árdua e triste. Ao amigo Juan Diego Echeverry Restrepo. À Adriana J. Murcia Santanilla pela ajuda, esclarecimentos e disponibilidade em compartilhar os conhecimentos para que esse trabalho fosse realizado da melhor forma possível. À Ana Carolina Fadel Dalsin que além de amiga, é um apoio dentro e fora do laboratório. Pela sua dedicação sem limites, sem nunca medir esforços para que tudo fosse realizado da melhor forma. Ao Ricardo Blanco pela amizade. À Tatiana Scarazatto e Isadora Dias Perez, que nesse último ano fizeram parte de inúmeras conversas e risadas, tornando essa jornada mais leve. À família do Carlos Alvarez Rosário: Sandra, Gabriela e Carlos Eduardo. Pelos momentos únicos que pudemos compartilhar e pelo carinho de todos.

The waste product from the hydrometallurgical processing of nickel laterite ores can contain valuable metals, making their recovery economically viable. However, the high‐impurities content, mainly iron, makes the process technically unfeasible. As a result, the separation of metals from the leach solution must be selective. Among the techniques available, the use of chelating resin is advantageous due to its selectivity and low energy consumption. Among the commercial chelating resins available, Dowex XUS 43605 has been shown to be highly selective for copper and can be used with a high impurities content. Although there are studies on the use of Dowex XUS 43605, none have evaluated a high impurities content and modelled a continuous process. For this reason, the aim of this work was to investigate copper recovery by a continuous process. The Dowex XUS 43605 chelating resin with HPPA functional group was used in ion‐exchange experiments. Column experiments were performed in two steps: loading (to recover copper) and elution (to obtain a copper‐rich solution). The removal of iron and the subsequent collection of copper were possible in a precipitation step using CaCO3. The results showed that the solution obtained from elution had a copper concentration that was 10 times higher than in the loading. All of the iron was removed from the elution solution at pH 3.5 with 5% of copper losses. Copper precipitation was possible at pH 5.5. From the results obtained, a proposed flowsheet for recovering copper was suggested.

No abstract

Global generation of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is increasing quickly. Metals from WEEE can be recovered by using unit operations of chemical engineering. This paper describes a combined hydrometallurgical route (sulfuric oxidant leaching + solvent extraction) to recover copper from printed circuit boards (PCBs). A non-magnetic fraction from comminuted PCBs was used to perform leaching tests at 75ºC for 6 hours in an oxidizing media (sulfuric acid + hydrogen peroxide). In order to separate zinc, aluminum, and copper from the leaching liquor, solvent extraction tests were carried out using D2EHPA. Parameters that influence the process, such as pH, extractant concentration, and the aqueous/organic (A/O) ratio were investigated. Solvent extraction experiments were carried out in two stages: i) separation of zinc, aluminum, and residual iron, and ii) copper separation. The results showed that the leaching obtained around 60% aluminum, 94% copper, 76% zinc, 50% nickel and residual iron from the non-magnetic fraction of PCBs. With the solvent experiments, in the first stage, 100 wt.% zinc, iron and aluminum were extracted at pH 3.5, 2:1 A/O, 10 % (v/v) D2EHPA, while, in the second stage 100% of the copper was extracted at pH 3.5, 1:1 A/O, 20 % (v/v) D2EHPA.