Ferro-cavitation processes for target metal separation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11306007-B2
Application number	US-201716334593-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 20, 2017
Priority date	Sep 20, 2016
Publication date	Apr 19, 2022
Grant date	Apr 19, 2022

Abstract

Provided herein are processes for the removal and/or recovery of a target metal from a liquid sample, said process comprising: [1] applying acoustic cavitation to the liquid; and [2] adding an iron (II) salt, or a precursor form thereof, to the liquid sample and allowing Fenton oxidation reaction to occur between the iron and hydrogen peroxide in the liquid, thereby producing hydroxyl radicals; thereby producing a target metal salt or metal oxide having a reduced solubility in the liquid sample, leading to removal of the target metal from the liquid sample. The use of metal ligands in such processes is also described, as well as systems for performing such processes. Methods, processes, and systems for removing organic contaminants from a liquid sample are also described.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A process for removal of a target metal from a liquid sample, said process comprising:
applying acoustic cavitation to the liquid;
adding a ligand for the target metal to the liquid sample; wherein the ligand is 2-(aminomethyl)pyridine:

and
adding an iron (II) salt, or a precursor form thereof, to the liquid sample and allowing Fenton oxidation reaction to occur between the iron and hydrogen peroxide in the liquid, thereby producing hydroxyl radicals;
thereby producing a target metal salt or metal oxide having a reduced solubility in the liquid sample, leading to removal of the target metal from the liquid sample.

2. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the process further leads to removal of target organic compounds from the liquid sample.

3. The process according to claim 2 , wherein the target organic compounds comprise persistent organic polymers (POPs).

4. The process according to claim 3 , wherein the POPs comprise perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluoroheptane sulfonate (PFHpS) or other Per- or polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS).

5. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the acoustic cavitation is in a range of from 20 kHz to 2.4 MHz.

6. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the liquid sample is or comprises a process affected water, an oil, a bitumen, or an asphaltenes.

7. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the target metal is nickel (Ni), vanadium (V), or selenium (Se).

8. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the iron (II) salt is FeSO 4 .

9. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the target metal salt or metal oxide having reduced solubility in the liquid sample is precipitated from the liquid sample and removed therefrom.

10. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the ligand complexes with the target metal, thereby further reducing solubility of the metal in the liquid sample, facilitating removal therefrom.

11. The process according to claim 10 , wherein complexation of the ligand with the metal results in precipitation of the metal from the liquid sample.

12. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the target metal is selenium.

13. The process according to claim 12 , wherein selenium complexes with the ligand to form at least one complex having the structure:

14. The process according to claim 1 , wherein no additional hydrogen peroxide is added to the liquid as part of the process.

15. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the hydrogen peroxide is generated in the liquid sample when acoustic cavitation is applied thereto.

16. A process for upgrading bitumen, said process comprising:
applying acoustic cavitation to the bitumen;
adding a ligand to the bitumen; wherein the ligand is 2-(aminomethyl)pyridine:

and
adding an iron (II) salt, or a precursor form thereof, to the bitumen and allowing Fenton oxidation reaction to occur between the iron and hydrogen peroxide in the bitumen, thereby producing hydroxyl radicals.

17. A process for removal of an organic contaminant from a liquid sample, said process comprising:
applying acoustic cavitation to the liquid sample;
adding a liqand for the organic contaminant to the liquid sample; wherein the liqand is 2-(aminomethyl)pyridine:

and
adding an iron (II) salt, or a precursor form thereof, to the liquid sample and allowing Fenton oxidation reaction to occur between the iron and hydrogen peroxide in the liquid sample, thereby producing hydroxyl radicals.

18. The process according to claim 5 , wherein the acoustic cavitation is in a range of from 350 kHz to 800 kHz.

19. The process according to claim 5 , wherein the acoustic cavitation is in a range of from 500-600 kHz.

Assignees

• Nat Res Council Canada

Inventors

• Kirpalani Deepak M
• Mohapatra Dipti Prakash

Classifications

• C10G31/10

  with the aid of centrifugal force · CPC title

• C02F2101/38

  containing nitrogen · CPC title

• C02F2103/16

  from metallurgical processes, i.e. from the production, refining or treatment of metals, e.g. galvanic wastes · CPC title

• C02F1/722

  Oxidation by peroxides · CPC title

• C02F2101/106

  Selenium compounds · CPC title