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Selective Separation of Tellurium and Copper from Crude Selenium by Pre-oxidation and Vacuum Distillation

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Abstract

The removal of Te and Cu was the key point during the selenium purification process. Experimental results found that the volatile decomposition and volatilization behavior of Cu–Se compounds and Te would result in a high content of Cu and Te in selenium. Based on Eh-pH of the Se–Te–Cu–H2O system, a removal route of impurities Te and Cu in crude selenium, pre-oxidation and vacuum distillation process was presented, and their removal mechanism was investigated. ICP-OES, EPMA, XRD, and SEM were employed to analyze the behavior of impurities in materials and samples. The results of pre-oxidation experiments showed CuSe and CuTe in crude selenium were oxidized to CuSeO3 and tellurium dioxide during the pre-oxidation stage, which effectively refrained volatilization of element Cu and Te. Consequently, a selenium product of 99.98 pct purity with 24.19 ppm Te and 5 ppm Cu was obtained in the following vacuum distillation. The overall process would be a desirable industrial purification of selenium.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (U1902221); Plan of Yunling Scholars Project of Yunnan Province; the Scientist Studio of Yunnan Province; the Leading Talents of Industrial Technology in Ten Thousand Talents Plan of Yunnan Province.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The State Key Laboratory of Complex Non-Ferrous Metal Resources Clean Utilization, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 650093, Yunnan, P.R. China

    Wenlong Jiang, Heng Xiong, Guozheng Zha, Bin Yang & Baoqiang Xu

  2. National Engineering Laboratory for Vacuum Metallurgy, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, 650093, Yunnan, P.R. China

    Huan Luo, Wenlong Jiang, Heng Xiong, Guozheng Zha, Lang Liu, Tiantian Zhen, Bin Yang & Baoqiang Xu

  3. Faculty of Metallurgical and Energy Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, 68 Wen Chang Road, Kunming, 650093, Yunnan, P.R. China

    Huan Luo, Wenlong Jiang, Heng Xiong, Guozheng Zha, Lang Liu, Tiantian Zhen, Bin Yang & Baoqiang Xu

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  1. Huan Luo
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  2. Wenlong Jiang
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  3. Heng Xiong
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Correspondence to Baoqiang Xu.

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Luo, H., Jiang, W., Xiong, H. et al. Selective Separation of Tellurium and Copper from Crude Selenium by Pre-oxidation and Vacuum Distillation. Metall Mater Trans B 53, 1173–1182 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-022-02428-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11663-022-02428-2

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