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Suppressing SO3 formation in copper smelting flue gas by ejecting pyrite into flue

Environmental Science and Pollution Research volume 28, pages 4307–4316 (2021)Cite this article

Abstract

SO3 in the copper smelting flue gas not only causes serious corrosion in heat exchange and dust collection equipment but also increases the amount of sewage acid (waste acid or polluted acid from copper smelting). In this study, we attempted to reduce the damage by ejecting pyrite into the flue to suppress SO3 formation in the flue. First, the Gibbs free energy for the chemical reactions between the substances was obtained after ejecting pyrite. Subsequently, the thermodynamic study of SO2–O2–H2O–N2–CO2–CO system was performed. Then, a kinetic study on the decomposition and oxidation behaviour of pyrite in the flue system was performed through thermogravimetric experiments. Results show that pyrite decomposition and oxidation in the flue system have a very strong oxygen consumption capacity. The SO3 formation in the copper smelting flue gas is suppressed by the consumption of oxygen in the flue to control the reaction direction of 2SO2 + O2 ⇋ 2SO3 and the partial pressure of SO3.

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Data availability

The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in published article

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Funding

This work was funded by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2017YFC0210403).

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Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory for Ecological Metallurgy of Multi-metallic Mineral School of Metallurgy, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, Liaoning, China

    Qin Zhang & Hongying Yang

  2. School of Metallurgy, Northeastern University, Shenyang, 110819, Liaoning, China

    Qin Zhang, Jiacheng Chen, Yanan Wu, Haipeng Liu, Bin Gu, Shen Hu & Hongying Yang

Authors
  1. Qin Zhang
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  2. Jiacheng Chen
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  3. Yanan Wu
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  4. Haipeng Liu
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  5. Bin Gu
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  6. Shen Hu
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  7. Hongying Yang
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Contributions

Qin Zhang proposed the topic and comprehensively directed and wrote the manuscript, Jiacheng Chen performed the main experiment and analysis, Yanan WU did the dynamic experiment and the given data analysis and others participated in the construction of the experimental platform, data discussion, paper revision and assisted. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Qin Zhang or Hongying Yang.

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Zhang, Q., Chen, J., Wu, Y. et al. Suppressing SO3 formation in copper smelting flue gas by ejecting pyrite into flue. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 4307–4316 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10796-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10796-y

Keywords

  • Pyrite
  • Copper smelting
  • Flue gas
  • SO3
  • SO2