Selective recovery of manganese, lead and zinc

1. A method for recovering manganese from a brine, the method comprising the steps of:

providing an aqueous brine, said brine comprising manganese;

contacting said brine with an ionic liquid and separating from the brine after the step of contacting an ionic liquid comprising extracted manganese; and

treating said ionic liquid comprising extracted manganese with an aqueous solution to selectively recover manganese from the ionic liquid.

2. A method for recovering manganese and zinc from a brine, the method comprising the steps of

providing an aqueous brine, said brine comprising manganese and zinc;

contacting said brine with an ionic liquid to selectively extract manganese and zinc from said brine and separating from the brine after the step of contacting an ionic liquid comprising extracted manganese and zinc; and

treating said ionic liquid comprising extracted manganese and zinc with an aqueous solution to selectively recover manganese from the ionic liquid, producing a manganese depleted, zinc rich ionic liquid.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising the step of treating said manganese depleted, zinc rich ionic liquid with an aqueous solution to selectively recover zinc from the manganese depleted, zinc rich ionic liquid.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the ionic liquid is trihexyl(tetradecyl) phosphonium chloride.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the aqueous solution used to recover manganese from the ionic liquid is water.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the aqueous solution used to recover manganese from the ionic liquid is an acid.

7. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the aqueous solution is at a temperature between about 80 to 95° C.

8. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the acid is hydrochloric acid.

9. The method according to claim 8 , wherein the hydrochloric acid is at a concentration of between about 0.25 to 1.25 Molar.

10. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the acid is sulfuric acid.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the sulfuric acid is at a concentration of between about 0.25 to 1.25 Molar.

12. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the aqueous solution is at a temperature between about 80 to 95° C.

13. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the aqueous solution used to precipitate zinc from the ionic liquid is water.

14. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the ionic liquid is trihexyl(tetradecyl) phosphonium chloride.

15. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the aqueous solution used to recover manganese from the ionic liquid is water.

16. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the aqueous solution used to recover manganese from the ionic liquid is an acid.

17. A method for recovering zinc from a brine, the method comprising the steps of:

providing an aqueous brine, said brine comprising zinc;

contacting said brine with an ionic liquid and separating from the brine after the step of contacting an ionic liquid comprising extracted zinc; and

treating said ionic liquid containing extracted zinc with an aqueous solution to selectively recover zinc from the ionic liquid.

18. The method according to claim 17 , wherein the ionic liquid is trihexyl(tetradecyl) phosphoniurn chloride.

19. The method according to claim 17 , wherein the aqueous solution used to recover manganese from the ionic liquid is water.

20. A method for recovering lead from a brine, the method comprising the steps of:

providing an aqueous geothermal brine, said brine comprising lead;

contacting said geothermal brine with an ionic liquid to selectively extract lead from said brine and separating from the brine after the step of contacting an ionic liquid comprising extracted lead; and

treating said ionic liquid comprising extracted lead with an aqueous solution to remove other metals and produce a lead rich ionic liquid.