Modern metal production techniques often use solvent extraction either for separation or purification purposes. Processes were developed for specific mineral ores and deserve consequent modifications to be adapted to the recovery of metals from complex mixtures, arising eg from the hydrometallurgical processing of waste of electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), as these mixtures contain a large panel of elements in highly fluctuating content. Three-liquid-phase (TLP) extraction systems allow the separation of metallic ions in three different phases in a single apparatus, and thus open the door to the treatment of complex mixtures with fewer operations. This paper reviews the work performed on TLP systems for metals separation, and highlights the potential advantages of such a technique in the design of new processes. Several systems enable the controlled formation of three immiscible phases, and have been successfully applied to the separation of various metals of interest. Advantages and drawbacks of each system are discussed, with a perspective for further developments, and the possibility for the rapid sorting of complex mixtures into separate groups of metals, easy to process.

现代金属生产技术通常将溶剂萃取用于分离或纯化目的。已开发出针对特定矿物矿石的工艺，并应进行相应的修改，以适应从复杂混合物中回收金属的问题，例如，由于对电气和电子设备废弃物（WEEE）进行湿法冶金处理而产生的混合物，因为这些混合物中含有大量的元素。波动很大的内容。三相（TLP）萃取系统允许在单个设备中分离三个不同相中的金属离子，从而以较少的操作打开了处理复杂混合物的大门。本文回顾了在用于金属分离的TLP系统上进行的工作，并强调了这种技术在新工艺设计中的潜在优势。几种系统可实现三个不混溶相的受控形成，并已成功应用于分离各种目标金属。讨论了每个系统的优缺点，并展望了进一步的发展，并讨论了将复杂混合物快速分选为单独的金属组且易于处理的可能性。