hydrometallurgy

American  

[hahy-druh-met-l-ur-jee] / ˌhaɪ drəˈmɛt lˌɜr dʒi /

noun

1. the technique or process of extracting metals at ordinary temperatures by leaching ore with liquid solvents.

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hydrometallurgy British  

/ -mɛˈtælədʒɪ, ˌhaɪdrəʊˈmɛtəˌlɜːdʒɪ /

noun

1. a technique for the recovery of a metal from an aqueous medium in which the metal or the gangue is preferentially dissolved

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Other Word Forms

• hydrometallurgical adjective

Etymology

Origin of hydrometallurgy

First recorded in 1885–90; hydro- ¹ + metallurgy

Example Sentences

“But then if we had to operate using traditional acids or bases and generate waste, we’d be back where hydrometallurgy is at right now.”

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 11, 2026

In traditional hydrometallurgy, all the metals in an EV battery cell are dissolved in an inorganic acid.

From Science Daily • Oct. 17, 2023

Nlebedim and colleagues have developed an alternative, acid-free approach to hydrometallurgy for recovering rare-earth elements in the permanent magnets that are commonly found in hard drives and motors5.

From Scientific American • Dec. 21, 2022

Using a method called hydrometallurgy, the team are using water-based acid solutions to salvage e-waste’s precious metals for art.

From BBC • Aug. 22, 2022

When the metal is not in the form of nuggets, it often useful to employ a process called hydrometallurgy to separate silver from its ores.

From Textbooks • Feb. 14, 2019