History
Developing new products, developing new markets.
The Mining Technology Division of Cognis Corporation, and later the Ion-Transfer Technology marketing group, was founded in the late 1940s to mid 1950s.
General Mills Chemicals Incorporated, one of the predecessors of Cognis Corporation, produced a full range of fatty amines, including Alamine® 336, that were sold to numerous industries. (Alamine® 336 is a tertiary amine with the chemical name of tricaprylyl amine.)
During this time, a new application for uranium recovery using an amine extractant was developed by the Raw Materials Division of the United States Atomic Energy Commission. In this new application, the Alamine® 336 was used to produce uranium oxide from ore by a process called Solvent Extraction (SX).
Products for Recovery and Purification. Alamine® 336 is the organic extractant employed in SX, a process that begins with dissolving the uranium content from the ore with a weak acid solution. The resulting uranium salt contained in the aqueous phase is then extracted into an organic solvent containing the Alamine® 336. The two phases are separated and the uranium is recovered as an oxide by aqueous stripping the organic phase with a caustic solution.
This general concept was then extended to the commercial production, recovery and/or purification of a wide range of metals and acids.Thus Alamine® 336 was the first commercial amine solvent extraction chemical to be used in the mining industry for metals recovery. It offered superior performance as well as economic advantages to the mines.
Aliquat® 336, a quaternary amine derived from Alamine® 336, was applied to metals recovery in the mining industry shortly thereafter. Aliquat® 336 is useful in mining applications where the dissolving step is done in neutral or alkaline environments.
Because of continued interest in these products by the mining industry, four additional long chain tertiary amines were commercialized. These are Alamines® 300, 304-1 and 308.
A few years later, a new family of chelating chemicals, called LIX® Reagents, were developed for copper and other metals recovery. Products related to the LIX® Reagents are available as Aloxime® Products, in solvent free forms for forming oil soluble complexes of some metals.
Beyond the Mining Industry. With Alamine® and Aliquat® Reagents commercially available, non-mining applications were soon discovered. Eventually, commercial applications for the Alamine® and Aliquat® Products outside the mining industry became equally, if not more, important.
To better advance the use of the Alamine® and Aliquat® Chemicals in non-mining applications, a separate marketing group, Ion-Transfer Technology, was established within the Cognis Mining Chemicals Technology Division in the 1980’s. The ITC group was chartered to promote non-mining applications, as well as continuing the sales of Alamine® and Aliquat® Reagents in the mining industry.
Phase Transfer Catalysis. In the late 1960’s, a new technology was patented by Charles Starks of Conoco. He named this technology Phase Transfer Catalysis (PTC).
Although the chemistry he studied had been reported earlier, Starks was the first to recognize the fact that this was a unique synthetic reaction process. PTC promotes two phase organic reactions without the need for special co-solvents. In his patent, Aliquat® 138 (formerly Aliquat® 336) was mentioned by name.
Applications of PTC have grown significantly over the years because they offer numerous possibilities for improving chemical synthesis processes. The Aliquat® product line has now been expanded to include Aliquat® 100 S, Aliquat® 175 and Aliquat® HTA-1 products and is still growing. The first of a second family of PTC products has since been added to the line as well, namely Aliplex® 186DB, a crown ether complexant.
The Ion-Transfer Technology product line will continue to grow in the future to better serve the needs of the Solvent Extraction and Phase Transfer Catalyst customers. Our goal is to be the leader in technology, products, quality and customer support.
For further information about Ion-Transfer Technology or for technical assistance, please contact Steve Olafson
Alamine®, Aliquat®, LIX® and Aliplex® are registered trademarks of Cognis Corporation.