Copper recovery from Wire Drawing Emuslion Sludge

I am trying to develop a process to recover dry copper fines from the sludge remaining after spent wire drawing emulsion is sent for wastewater treatment. Does anyone know of a way to separate the copper fines from the watery sludge containing sticky soluble and non-soluble oils? We have tried vacuum filtration but the screens blind and the oil remains. Adding acetone to the solution separates the oils and lets the copper settle but this produces hazardous waste water as a byproduct. My clients have thousands of gallons of this sludge which many times is landfilled. I want to recover dry oil free copper and send the remaining oil and water for treatment.

Hello there CuHead,

All we did was collect the sludge, put it in 45 gallon drums and sell it back to the smelter.

It was never wasted or thrown out.

Regards
Peter J. Stewart-Hay
Principal
Stewart-Hay Associates
www.Stewart-Hay.com
519 641- 3212

We did same.

Hello,

We have technology by which we can process emulsion sludge in wire drawing industry.

We have capacity of 80-100 tons/ month.

We are based in India. We would like to offer our services.

Kindly contact on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The technology is non polluting and does not leave behind any hazardous by product.

Regards,

Roshan Jain
+91-9821719292