Germanium extraction from a high acid leaching solution of zinc replacing slag by HBL101

Germanium extraction from a high acid leach solution of zinc replacing slag by a new extractant, HBL101, was tested based on the current research status on extracting germanium from zinc smelting slag in hydrometallurgy. Investigations were performed on the effects of feed acidity, extractant concentration, extraction time, extraction phase ratio and temperature on the extraction, the effects of NaOH concentration, stripping time, stripping phase ratio and temperature on the stripping of germanium, and the conditions of extractant transformation. The results show that with 30% HBL101 in 70% sulphonated kerosene (volume fraction) as an extract-ant, the extraction rate of germanium from the solution with 113.2 g·L^-1 H₂SO₄ reaches 98.57% in five-stage counter current extrac-tion with a volume ratio of oil phase to aqueous phase, O/A ratio, of 1:4 at 25℃ for 20 min. Germanium in the loaded organic can be selectively stripped using a 150 g·L^-1 NaOH solution and the stripping rate reaches 98.1% in five-stage counter current stripping with an O/A ratio of 4:1 at 25℃ for 25 min. After germanium stripping, copper in the loaded organic can be stripped using a 200 g·L^-1 H₂SO₄ solution and the stripping rate of copper reaches 99.75% in five-stage counter current stripping with an O/A ratio of 2:1 at 25℃ for 20 min. The extractant returns to extraction circularly.