Hydrometallurgy

Hydrometallurgy is the science of the behavior of metals in aqueous phase. Its objective is to isolate the target metal in a form that allows its recovery or to limit the damage it can cause to the environment. Thus, in a context of increasing scarcity of primary sources and environmental constraints, the study of concentration and separation processes of metallic elements in solution represents an important research axis of the LRGP. This laboratory has a hydrometallurgy platform, allowing the understanding of the mechanisms involved from the small scale (a few milliliters) to the pilot of several tens of liters.

Two different approaches are conducted:

• the understanding, modelling, optimisation and intensification of unitary operations, such as crystallisation, precipitation, electrodeposition, electrodeionisation or adsorption.
• the global development of processes, from raw material to finished product, from laboratory to pilot scale. In particular, the LRGP has developed an expertise on the recovery of metals from the biomass of hyperaccumulative plants (agromine process).