ABSTRACT

Producing pure substances has been the obsession of scientists for centuries and has defined chemistry as we know it. Nowadays, most of our economy still relies on the chemist ability to extract and purify metallic elements from raw or recycled materials, which, in most cases, is done partly or entirely via hydrometallurgical methods. Here, the authors present the critical aspects of this relatively overlooked, yet critical, chemistry discipline. This review article highlights the importance of hydrometallurgical processes for strategic industrial sectors, put in perspective traditional separation methods with emerging ones (new metal-binding chelators, ionic liquids, deep eutectic solvents, microfluidic devices, biomaterials, etc.), critically reviews progress made on separation methods over the past two decades, and highlights the challenges lying ahead for the hydrometallurgists in academia and the industry.

摘要

几个世纪以来，生产纯物质一直是科学家们的痴迷，并定义了我们所知道的化学。如今，我们的大部分经济仍然依赖于化学家从原材料或回收材料中提取和纯化金属元素的能力，这在大多数情况下是部分或完全通过湿法冶金方法完成的。在这里，作者介绍了这一相对被忽视但又至关重要的化学学科的关键方面。本文强调了湿法冶金工艺对战略工业部门的重要性，将传统分离方法与新兴方法（新型金属结合螯合剂、离子液体、低共熔溶剂、微流体装置、生物材料等）结合起来，批判性地回顾了所取得的进展过去二十年的分离方法，