LIQUID-SOLID

LEACHING PROCESS
Leaching Processes
•Use to separate the desired solute
constituent or remove an undesired
solute component from the solid phase.
•The solid is contacted with a liquid phase
in which the two phases are in intimate
contact.
•This allow the solute diffuses from the
solid to the liquid phase resulting
separation.
Leaching Process for Biological Substances

•Leaching of sugar from sugar beets with hot water.

•Production of vegetable oil, where organic solvent, e.g.
hexane, acetone and ether, are used to extract oil from
peanuts, soybens, sunflower seeds, cotton seeds, and
halibut liver.
•Pharmaceutical products are obtained by leaching plant
roots, leaves, and stems.
•Production of soluble instant coffee where ground
roasted coffee is leached with fresh water.
•Soluble tea is produced by water leaching of tea leaves.
Leaching Process for Inorganic and Organic
Materials

•Extensively used in the metals processing

industries.
•Leaching is used to remove metals as soluble
salt.
•Copper salts are dissolved or leached from its
ore by sulfuric acid or ammoniacal solutions.
•Gold is leached from its ore using aqueous
sodium cyanide solution.
•Cobalt and nickel salts are leached using
sulfuric acid-ammonia-oxygen mixtures.
Preparation of Solid Leaching
•Crushing and grinding of solid to allow soluble portions
are made more accessible to the solvent thus increasing
rate of leaching.
•Simple washing can be applied if the soluble substance
is widely distributed throughout the whole solid.
•For biological material, i.e. sugar beet, they are cut into
wedge-shape slices for leaching.
•For soybeans and many vegetable seeds they are
ruptures by rolling and flaking in such a way that the
vegetable oil is easily accessible to the solvent.
•For pharmaceutical product e.g. leaves, stems and
roots, drying of the material before extraction help to
rupture the cell wall and hence solvent can directly
dissolved the solute.
Equilibrium Relations and Single-Stage Leaching

Assumptions:
1. Solute-free solid is insoluble in the solvent.
2. Solvent present in sufficient amount so all solute can be completely leached out
from solid.
3. Equilibrium is reached when solute is dissolved.
4. No absorption of solute by the solid.
5. Solution in liquid phase leaving the stage = solution that remains with the solid
matrix.
UNDERFLOW/SLURRY STREAM – the settled solid leaving a stage that contains
some liquid containing dissolved solid.

OVERFLOW STREAM – Concentration in the liquid solution accompanying the

slurry stream.
Single-Stage
Leaching Process
flow

Material balance
COUNTERCURRENT MULTISTAGE LEACHING

However, the Ln (the liquid retained in the underflow) will vary and the
slope of (12.10-3) will vary from stage to stage.
Variable Underflow in Countercurrent Multistage Leaching
Estimation of the operating point Δ,
Assignment