Capital And Operating Costs

The concentration of metals in the solution, the .value of the metal being recovered, together with the flow through- put, may singly or in combination conbribute to the decision on the possible use of solvent extraction. Also, as noted earlier, the upstream and downstream aspects of the overall process have to be considered. The economic considerations may be divided into: 1. Capital investments 2. Operating costs Capital Cost The capital costs can be influenced by the following: 1. number of stages; 2. kinetics; 3. coalescence; 4. entrainment; 5. flow rates and ratios; 6. building requirements; 7. ancillary equipment; 8. environment constraints or requirements; 9. engineering design.