Use of response surface methods in hydrometallurgical researches

Abstract

Response surface methods (RSM) have been successfully and frequently used in many engineering and applied science fields due to their advantages. The main advantages can be sorted as opportunity of easy optimization, reaching maximum information by less experimental data, opportunity of changing significant parameters simultaneously, determination of interaction between parameters and elimination of insignificant parameters. Metal extraction yields depend on many parameters in hydrometallurgical studies. Using the response surface methods in the hydrometallurgical studies is thought to be useful on the level of experimental design and evaluation of obtained results. In this study, theoretical fundamentals of response surface methods were explored briefly and a representative hydrometallurgical study was applied and discussed as an example.