Recovery of copper by LIX 984N-C from electroplating rinse bath solution

Development of a complete hydrometallurgical process at the laboratory scale for recovering copper from the copper electroplating second rinse bath solution containing ~ 2.5 g/L copper (CESRBS) by solvent extraction route using LIX 984N-C dissolved in commercial kerosene was investigated. By using LIX 984N-C, an electrolyte from CESRBS with ~ 97 g/L copper content, which was addable to the copper electroplating bath, was generated by 30 vol.% LIX 984N-C in commercial kerosene at the O/A ratio of 1/8 and equilibrium pH value of 2 with two-stage counter-current extraction, and stripping of loaded organic by copper electroplating first rinse bath solution (7.8 g/L Cu) with 550 g/L sulfuric acid addition and with the O/A ratio of 2 at two-stage counter-current stripping process. The copper in stripping solution precipitated as CuSO4 3H2O salt. If the copper sulfate is produced without contaminated with organic phase, it could be recycled to the copper electroplating bath. A complete flow sheet of 30 vol.% LIX 984N-C process for the recovery of copper from CESRBS was demonstrated.