Abstract
The Harris process for lead softening uses sodium hydroxide and sodium nitrate to remove arsenic, tin, and antimony from molten lead by oxidation. It is known to be better than oxygen softening; however, the process has a higher cost in terms of the reagents used. Sodium hydroxide is corrosive and expensive. In this research, calcium carbonate, calcium hydroxide, and magnesium hydroxide were used as alternatives for sodium hydroxide in the softening process. Based on the initial results, the research focused on using calcium carbonate for subsequent softening process. In this study, the activities of the impurities, arsenic, tin, and antimony, were calculated and compared with that obtained with sodium hydroxide as the melt. The softening experiments were conducted on lead bullion by design of experiment (DOE) method by varying temperature, time, and reagent quantity. The dross obtained was analyzed chemically and with X-ray diffraction (XRD) to identify the phases formed. Experimental and theoretical results are presented.
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© 2023 The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society
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Asante, S., Taylor, P. (2023). Alternative Fluxes for Lead Bullion Refining. In: Reddy, R.G., et al. New Directions in Mineral Processing, Extractive Metallurgy, Recycling and Waste Minimization. TMS 2023. The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22765-3_24
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-22765-3_24
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