| abstract |
Metals are recovered from waste materials which contain an organic component and a bimetallic salt complex component which comprises complexes having the formula MIMIIXn &cirf& Aromatic and/or the formula MIMIIXn &cirf& MIIOX . Aromatic, wherein MI is a Group I-B metal, MII is a Group III-A metal, X is a halogen atom, n is the sum of the valences of MI and MII and Aromatic is a monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbon or halogenated aromatic hydrocarbon having 6 to 12 carbon atoms, by hydrolyzing the waste material with water and either hydrochloric acid or sodium hydroxide to form a hydrolysis mixture which separates into an organic phase and an aqueous phase, and, after removing the organic phase, recovering the Group I-B metal and the Group III-A metal from the aqueous phase. This process can be used, for example, to recover copper and aluminium from waste materials which contain CuAlCl4 &cirf& toluene and/or CuAlCl4 &cirf& AlOCl &cirf& toluene. |