Copper ore containing 80 wt.% inert solids, 12 wt.% CuSO4 and 8 wt.% water is to be extracted in a counter-current stage extractor to recover CuSO4 using pure water. After each stage, 1 ton of inert solids retain 2.5 tons of liquid (CuSO4 and water solution). Equilibrium is attained in each stage, and a basis of 100 tons/hr the copper ore can be used. If the strong solution produced is to consist of 0.12 mass fraction of CuSO4. The fractional recovery of CuSO4 from the ore is 0.95, what is the number of ideal stages required for the process? (round to one

intermolecular forces are the forces between molecules or particles.

there are two kinds of van der waals forces: weak london dispersion forces and stronger dipole-dipole forces.

in molecule of water there are dipole-dipole forces between negatively charged oxygen from one molecule of water and positively charger hydrogen of another molecule of water.

hydrogen bond is an electrostatic attraction between two polar groups that occurs when a hydrogen atom (h), covalently bound to a highly electronegative atom such as flourine (f), oxygen (o) and nitrogen (n) atoms.