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Thermodynamic and kinetic analysis of jarosite Pb–Ag sludge thermal decomposition for hydrometallurgical utilization of valuable elements

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Abstract

Jarosite is a specific type of hazardous waste determined by the origin of the primary raw materials of the hydrometallurgical process of zinc production. It represents a very demanding raw material for further treatment and recover of valuable metals due to their complex phase structures. The aim of this study was to collect relevant data for the designing the process of thermal decomposition of jarosite Pb–Ag sludge desired structure, which includes the transformation of Fe(II) and Fe(III) sulfates to insoluble hematite, retention of Cu, Zn and In in the form of soluble sulfates, with the possibility of their subsequent valorization by hydrometallurgical methods. Thermal decomposition of the industrial sample of jarosite Pb–Ag sludge is investigated under different temperatures (670–750 °C) and atmospheres (air and nitrogen) by thermodynamic, thermogravimetric and kinetic analysis. Physicochemical characterization of samples was done by ICP-MS, AAS, IMS, XRD, SEM techniques. The examined sample is ammonium jarosite type with the dominant phases NH4Fe3(SO4)2(OH)6 × H2O (44.00%) and ZnFe2O4 (15.25%). Experimental results, physicochemical characterization and thermodynamic analysis confirmed that the maximum content of hematite (Fe2O3) and metal sulfates (Cu, Pb and Zn), as required compounds for selective metal extraction, without the presence of unreacted ammonium jarosite, was obtained at 730 °C. A kinetic study obtained by thermogravimetric analysis showed that the thermal decomposition of jarosite Pb–Ag sludge takes place in two phases. The activation energy, calculated using the Kissinger–Akahira–Sunose iso-conversion method, was 235.4 kJ mol−1 and 208.8 kJ mol−1 for the decomposition of jarosite in air and nitrogen, respectively.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia (Contract No. 451-03-47/2023-01/200135 and 451-03-47/2023-01/200287)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy, University of Belgrade, Karnegijeva 4, 11120, Belgrade, Serbia

    Željko Kamberović, Vaso Manojlović & Sanja Jevtić

  2. Innovation Center of the Faculty of Technology and Metallurgy in Belgrade Ltd., University of Belgrade, Karnegijeva 4, 11120, Belgrade, Serbia

    Milisav Ranitović, Nataša Gajić & Marija Štulović

Authors
  1. Željko Kamberović
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  2. Milisav Ranitović
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  6. Marija Štulović
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by Željko Kamberović, Milisav Ranitović, Vaso Manojlović and Sanja Jevtić, The first draft of the manuscript was written by Marija Štulović and Nataša Gajić and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Marija Štulović.

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Kamberović, Ž., Ranitović, M., Manojlović, V. et al. Thermodynamic and kinetic analysis of jarosite Pb–Ag sludge thermal decomposition for hydrometallurgical utilization of valuable elements. J Therm Anal Calorim 148, 11799–11810 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10973-023-12508-3

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