Leading mineral process company, Multotec Process Equipment, will be providing a continuous ion exchange (Clean-iX®) metals processing scavenging equipment to a customer in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The equipment, using Clean-iX® ion exchange technology from Melbourne-based metals recovery and industrial water treatment specialists Clean TeQ, will treat up to 20 million litres a day of a raffinate stream, removing contaminant metals and improving the quality and environmental rank of the raffinate before it is processed further.

The technology is built on the foundations of batch ion exchange, a process that has been used in the industry for over 50 years. The Clean-iX® process allows the extraction of metals from clarified leach liquors using a ‘moving packed bed’ column, maximising adsorption; this method of extraction has higher efficiency than conventional technologies.

As a leading provider of high-quality mineral processing equipment and solutions to the mining, mineral processing, petrochemical and power generation industries, Multotec has an exclusive technology distribution agreement with Clean TeQ for the African continent.

Carien Spagnuolo, senior process engineer at Multotec Process Equipment, says the group leverages its extensive sales and service network in African countries to bring customers leading edge technologies from around the world, especially for niche applications or difficult to treat waters.

“The DRC contract confirms the rapidly increasing global interest in the application of continuous ion exchange technology for metallurgical scavenging and water purification,” she says. “The installation is expected to offer another valuable reference for the efficacy and cost effectiveness of the process, for which there is a large potential market.”

In metals recovery and purification, Multotec is able to draw on Clean TeQ’s Clean-iX® technology. There is also a suite of water purification technology from Clean TeQ that includes Continuous Ionic Filtration (CIF®), DeSALx® for desalination and sulphate reduction, and HiROx® for high recovery reverse osmosis.

The DRC project is the second contract awarded in the past 12 months in which Multotec has applied Clean TeQ’s technology offering. Multotec is also currently implementing a proprietary continuous ionic filtration wastewater treatment solution at a mineral processing plant in the Middle East. Multotec was the principal bidder with overall responsibility for delivering the complex wastewater management and effluent treatment systems for the pyro-metallurgical mineral processing facility.