Abstract
Mass transfer is a crucial part of the management procedure in the solvent extraction processes, and
the coefficients of mass transfer study assess the high efficiency. Therefore, the rate of mass transfer for the extraction and recovery of zinc ions from the chloride solution in the rotating sieved disc extractor was investigated under the influences of various factors. The variations showed that mass transfer in the aqueous or organic side-phases depends on the type of column hydrodynamics in the extraction and stripping section. The removal of the desired species between the two phases is achieved when the hydrodynamic conditions have the appropriate accompaniment in the rate of mass transfer. The increase of mixing in the column and approaching the rigid conditions for more droplets is accompanied by a diminishing in mass transfer. Still, hydrodynamics makes the column performance even higher in these conditions. Also, the reaction behavior affects the rate of mass transfer and changes in coefficients, which was identified by examining the behavior of the system with physical systems. Finally, new correlations for mass transfer for the droplet phase and the aqueous phase based on the operating conditions of the column were presented to determine and optimize the column evaluation with the standard reaction system (zinc extraction with D2EHPA extractant).