D.F Haghshenas - Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, P.O.
D Darvishi - Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology & Materials and Energy Research Center
S Etemadi - Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, P.O.
M Asnavandi - Department of Mining and Metallurgical Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, P.O.

It has been found during solvent extraction process, not only the valuable compounds are extracted by the organic solvent from the aqueous solutions, but also water transfer between the organic and aqueous phases. Water transfer influences on the mass balance in the process and the complex formation. In ambient temperature and the O/A = 1, It has been shown that during zinc extraction by D2EHPA, 1400 cm 3 water will be rejected from the organic phase when the volume of aqueous phase is 1 m3. Under the same conditions the total value of adsorbed water is equal to 2394 cm 3 through sulfuric acid extraction by TEHA. Also 2110 cm 3 water will be transferred between the organic and aqueous phases in Cu 2+ /LIX 984N system. Therefore it seems that water transfer should be considered in the engineering design of solvent extraction circuit.

Water Transfer, Solvent Extraction, D2EHPA, TEHA, LIX 984N