You searched for: “hydrometallurgy”
hydrometallurgy
1. The technique or process of extracting metals at ordinary temperatures by leaching ore with liquid solvents.
2. The extraction of metals from ores by treating them with aqueous chemical solutions, including extraction by electrolysis and ion exchange.
This entry is located in the following unit: hydro-, hydra-, hydr-, hyd- (page 9)
Word Entries at Get Words: “hydrometallurgy”
electrometallurgy, hydrometallurgy (s) (noun) (no pl)
Two techniques that are used in metallurgy: Electrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy involve the extraction of metals from ores, the refinement of them, the purification of them, and the preparation of them for practical applications.

While some metals, such as gold and silver, can be found uncombined with other elements in nature, most metals occur as minerals; that is, in chemical combination with nonmetallic elements.

When the combination is such that the extraction of a metal from a mineral is economically attractive, the combination is called an ore. The technique of producing metals from ore is called "process metallurgy" or "extraction metallurgy".

This entry is located in the following unit: Metallurgy Topics or Metal Technology + (page 1)
hydrometallurgy (s) (noun) (no pl)
The science and technology of extracting and recovering metals chemically from ores by the use of aqueous or water solutions: Hydrometallurgy is distinct from pyrometallurgy which consists of of smelting and other similar high-temperature operations.

The principles involved in hydrometallurgy are those of physical chemistry, inorganic chemistry, electrochemistry and analytical chemistry.

Hydrometallurgical processes are used commercially because they are convenient to operate, the recovery of metals is high, and operating costs usually are low, and especially because of the variety of quantitative chemical separations that can be made in aqueous solutions much more readily than is possible with the melts used in pyrometallurgical processes.

—Compiled from information located in the
Encyclopedia Britannica; William Benton, Publisher;
Chicago; 1968; pages 961 & 962.
This entry is located in the following unit: Metallurgy Topics or Metal Technology + (page 1)