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Oxygen-Rich Side-Blown Bath Smelting of Copper Dross: A Process Study

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Abstract

A complex copper dross containing Bi, Pb, Cu, As and Sb was processed in a 3.6 m2 industrial-scale oxygen-rich side-blown bath smelting furnace (OSBF). The products were collected and analyzed by chemical and mineralogical methods. Industrial statistical data showed that recoveries of Cu, Pb, Bi and Sb reached 87%, 96%, 97% and 60%, respectively. Slag composition indicated that the process can be divided into 2 steps, i.e., oxidative smelting and reductive smelting, due to the use of different oxygen-rich gas flow rate and enrichment. The effect of oxygen partial pressure (PO2) on the element partitioning was simulated by Factsage. The results indicated that increase of PO2 between 10–5 atm and 10–7 atm would significantly increase the partitioning of Cu, Pb, As and Sb to the slag; while element partitioning became almost independent of PO2 between 10–7.5 atm to 10–9.5 atm. Phase analysis for the slag indicated that the bath in the furnace was a “FeO”–CaO–SiO2–Al2O3–ZnO slag coexisting with solid spinels.

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Acknowledgement

The financial support from National Key Research and Development Program of China (2018YFC1901604), Natural Science Foundation of Hunan province (No. 2018JJ3662), China Scholarship Council (No. 201706375005), and China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (No. 2018M632988) are gratefully acknowledged. Hunan Jinwang Bismuth Industrial Co., Ltd. is acknowledged for the industrial trial.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China

    Peng Chen, Hui Xiao, Lin Chen, Duchao Zhang, Weifeng Liu & Tianzu Yang

  2. Centre for Advanced Microscopy, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia

    Jiang Chen

  3. National Engineering Laboratory for High Efficiency Recovery of Refractory Nonferrous Metals, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, China

    Peng Chen, Hui Xiao, Lin Chen, Duchao Zhang, Weifeng Liu & Tianzu Yang

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  1. Peng Chen
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  2. Hui Xiao
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  3. Jiang Chen
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Correspondence to Lin Chen.

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The contributing editor for this article was Sharif Jahanshahi.

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Chen, P., Xiao, H., Chen, J. et al. Oxygen-Rich Side-Blown Bath Smelting of Copper Dross: A Process Study. J. Sustain. Metall. 6, 344–354 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40831-020-00278-3

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