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Kinetics and leaching behaviors of aluminum from pharmaceutical blisters in sodium hydroxide solution

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Abstract

A hydrometallurgical process was developed for recycling pharmaceutical blisters. Leaching aluminum from pharmaceutical blisters using sodium hydroxide (NaOH) solutions was investigated with respect to leaching behaviors and kinetics. A L 9 (34) orthogonal design of experiments suggests that the most significant factor is NaOH concentration followed by temperature and leaching time. Factorial experiments demonstrate that the leaching rate of aluminum increases with increasing of the factors. The optimum conditions are temperature of 70 °C, leaching time of 20 min, NaOH concentration of 1.25 mol/L, liquid-to-solid mass ratio of 15:1 and agitation speed of 400 r/min. Under optimum conditions, the leaching rate is up to 100%, implying that aluminum and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic in pharmaceutical blisters are separated completely. Kinetics of leaching aluminum is best described by the product layer diffusion control model, and the activation energy is calculated to be 19.26 kJ/mol.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China

    Chong-qing Wang  (王重庆), Hui Wang  (王晖), Jian-gang Fu  (符剑刚) & You-nian Liu  (刘又年)

  2. School of Minerals Processing and Bioengineering, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China

    Guo-hua Gu  (顾帼华)

Authors
  1. Chong-qing Wang  (王重庆)
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  2. Hui Wang  (王晖)
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  3. Guo-hua Gu  (顾帼华)
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  4. Jian-gang Fu  (符剑刚)
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  5. You-nian Liu  (刘又年)
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hui Wang  (王晖).

Additional information

Foundation item: Project(2010CB630903) supported by the National Basic Research Program of China

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Wang, Cq., Wang, H., Gu, Gh. et al. Kinetics and leaching behaviors of aluminum from pharmaceutical blisters in sodium hydroxide solution. J. Cent. South Univ. 22, 4545–4550 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11771-015-3004-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11771-015-3004-x

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