Use of phytic acid for selective precipitation of undesirable metals (Al, Fe, Pb) contained in the leachates from hydrometallurgical processes

In hydrometallurgical processes, chemical precipitation is used either to recover dissolved valuable metals or remove undesirable elements before electrolysis. Beside conventional reagents (Ca(OH)2, NaOH, Na2CO3…) many authors tried replace them by bio-sourced compounds, but unfortunately, without necessarily leading an industrial use. This paper describes a study on the possibility use phytic acid Al3+, Fe3+ and Pb2+ from acidic leachates. reagent, present in cereals considered as antinutrient, can be recovered soaking waters of corn. this work, five metal phytates were synthesized characterized TGA ICP-OES following formulae: Al3C6H9P6O24,7H2O, Cu6C6H6P6O24,8H2O, Fe3.5C6H7.5P6O24,15H2O, Pb6C6H6P6O24,10H2O Zn6C6H6P6O24,6H2O. Solubility each phytate was measured pure water at 20 °C order determine their solubility product Ks not available literature. The conditional function pH then established predict perform selective precipitation. results showed that could interesting alternative able, thermodynamical point view, copper zinc