Abstract

BHP Billiton is one of the world's largest producers of copper, silver, lead and uranium. The multi-mineral ore deposit at Olympic Dam (OD) is the world’s fourth largest remaining copper deposit, fifth largest gold deposit and the largest uranium deposit.

The OD ore is crushed and then is leached using sulphuric acid. The pregnant liquor solution (PLS), contains dissolved copper and uranium. The uranium is separated using a series of pulsed columns (Pulsed Disc and Doughnut Column, PDDC). Their active section is 9 m high and 2.5 m in diameter. These columns are unique in that they have a series of disc and doughnut plates.

This uranium purification process has been operating at Olympic Dam via the use of solvent extraction pulsed columns for the last 15 years. During this time a number of factors have changed which has influenced the performance of the plant resulting in less than optimal operating conditions. These factors include a throughput in excess of design capacity, aging of column internals causing a change in the internal hydrodynamics and the requirement for different product flow ratios than in the original design conditions.

This work has a unique opportunity to access large scale operating data and compare it to simulations and small scale column trials. Thus, the immediate aim of this project is to improve the performance of the solvent extraction equipment at BHP Billiton’s Olympic Dam site through a study of the operating parameters on-site and comparing these with pilot plant studies carried out on small-scale equipment at The University of Melbourne. The outcome of this work will be generally applicable to metallurgical industry in that the understanding gained here is directly applicable to a range of operations.

Specifically, my work include: (1) Investigate hydrodynamic and mass transfer performance of PDDC on small scale columns and industrial columns; (2) Develop hydrodynamic and mass transfer model and validate these models with data obtained from large production columns; (3) Develop a robust models to predict operation of the solvent extraction columns with complex solution chemistry; (4) Investigate the influence of wettability on performance; (5) Develop empirical/ theoretical thermodynamic model to predict the uranium extraction under complex real solution chemistry.

Biography:

Yong Wang Yuan received his B.E. from Yantai University (2001) and received his M.E. (2007) from Hebei University of Science and Technology  before moving to Institute of Process Engineering where he obtained his Ph.D under the supervision of Prof. Tao Qi in 2011. From Jan 2013, he is a postdoc research fellow in the Department Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at The University of Melbourne, Australia.