Treatment of Residues from the Copper Industry with an Alternative Approach for Electric Furnace Slag

BHM Berg- und Hüttenmännische Monatshefte, Jun 2017

Today’s copper industry sees itself confronted with a variety of different residues and by-products. This situation can be explained by the decreasing content of copper in the primary ore concentrate and the multitude of further downstream processes and applications. This work aims at giving an overview of the different residues that derive from the primary as well as the secondary copper industry and highlights the potential in eastern and southeastern Europe. The core part of this article describes different recycling and recovery methods, which can be split into two main categories. The direct treatment generally consists of a remelting step which builds on a detailed chemical analysis and aims at the preservation of the contained alloying elements. In contrast to the direct option, the conventional recycling consists of several process steps which gradually increase the purity and quality of the material. The description of a new approach for the treatment of electric furnace slag concludes the considerations concerning the different residues. While the introduction of primary copper smelting slag into an electric furnace displays a commonly applied procedure which leads to a marketable product, legislative as well as environmental restrictions may restrict this opportunity in the near future. As a result, a pyrometallurgical approach that uses pig iron as a reducing agent aims at lowering the contained heavy metal content in the slag and hence at guaranteeing the required marketability.

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Treatment of Residues from the Copper Industry with an Alternative Approach for Electric Furnace Slag

Treatment of Residues from the Copper Industry with an Alternative Approach for Electric Furnace Slag Stephan R. Steinacker 0 1 2 Juergen Antrekowitsch 0 1 2 0 Schlüsselwörter: Recycling von Kupfer , Reststoffe, Kupferschlacke, Roheisen, Reduktion 1 S. R. Steinacker ( ) Christian Doppler Laboratory for Optimization and Biomass Utilization in the Recycling of Heavy Metals, Chair of Non-Ferrous Metallurgy , Montanuniversitaet Leoben, Franz-Josef-Strasse 18, 8700 Leoben , Austria 2 Christian Doppler Laboratory for Optimization and Biomass Utilization in the Recycling of Heavy Metals, Chair of Non-Ferrous Metallurgy , Montanuniversitaet Leoben, Leoben , Austria Today's copper industry sees itself confronted with a variety of different residues and by-products. This situation can be explained by the decreasing content of copper in the primary ore concentrate and the multitude of further downstream processes and applications. This work aims at giving an overview of the different residues that derive from the primary as well as the secondary copper industry and highlights the potential in eastern and southeastern Europe. The core part of this article describes different recycling and recovery methods, which can be split into two main categories. The direct treatment generally consists of a remelting step which builds on a detailed chemical analysis and aims at the preservation of the contained alloying elements. In contrast to the direct option, the conventional recycling consists of several process steps which gradually increase the purity and quality of the material. The description of a new approach for the treatment of electric furnace slag concludes the considerations concerning the different residues. While the introduction of primary copper smelting slag into an electric furnace displays a commonly applied procedure which leads to a marketable product, legislative as well as environmental restrictions may restrict this opportunity in the near future. As a result, a pyrometallurgical approach that uses pig iron as a reducing agent aims at lowering the contained heavy metal content in the slag and hence at guaranteeing the required marketability. Copper recycling; Residues; Copper slag; Pig iron; Reduction - Zusammenfassung: Die heutige Kupferindustrie sieht sich mit einer Vielzahl an unterschiedlichen Reststoffen und Nebenprodukten konfrontiert. Diese Tatsache lässt sich vor allem auf den abnehmenden Kupfergehalt im Erzkontentrat und die Verschiedenartigkeit der weiterverarbeitenden Prozesse zurückführen. Ein Ziel der vorliegenden Arbeit liegt darin, unterschiedliche Reststoffe aus der primären und sekundären Kupferindustrie näher zu beschreiben, wobei ein Fokus auf dem vorhandenen Potenzial im ost- und südosteuropäischen Raum liegt. Die direkte Aufarbeitung besteht grundsätzlich aus einem Aufschmelzschritt, welcher eine genaue chemische Analyse verlangt und auf einen möglichst geringen Verlust der vorhandenen Legierungselemente abzielt. Im Gegensatz dazu umfasst das konventionelle Recycling eine breite Prozesskette, über welche die Qualität und die Reinheit des Werkstoffs kontinuierlich zunehmen. Abschließend soll eine alternative Methode für die Aufarbeitung von Schlacke aus dem Elektroofen beschrieben werden. Während der Einsatz von primärer Kupferschlacke in diesem Aggregat einen klassischen Prozess zur Kupferrückgewinnung darstellt, welcher darüber hinaus zu einem absatzfähigen Produkt führt, könnten legislative sowie umwelttechnische Restriktionen zu einem abrupten Ende der bewussten Nutzung führen. Der in dieser Arbeit beschriebene pyrometallurgische Ansatz versucht, den Schwermetallgehalt der Schlacke weiter zu senken, um so deren Marktfähigkeit weiterhin zu gewährleisten. 1. Introduction After iron and aluminum, copper represents the third-most produced metal on a global basis with an annual amount of around 21.1 Mio. t considering the copper content of the world mine production in the year 2015 [1]. While the primary production from sulfidic and oxidic ores still represents the central production route, recycling methods constantly gain importance. In addition to the valuable metal copper, residues and by-products display a broad variety of chemical elements which can improve the economic feasibility of different secondary processes [2]. This work concentrates on copper companies and sources from eastern and southeastern Europe (ESEE). After giving an overview of the potential in this region, different residues from the copper industry can be investigated. Subsequently, adequate recycling techniques are presented, which lead to a classification into direct as well as conventional approaches. Their common goal is represented by an efficient recovery of copper and the production of a high-purity material. In addition, by-elements, such as zinc, lead, and arsenic, are also considered. On the one hand, these display a contamination within the raw material, while, on the other hand, their r (...truncated)


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Stephan R. Steinacker, Juergen Antrekowitsch. Treatment of Residues from the Copper Industry with an Alternative Approach for Electric Furnace Slag, BHM Berg- und Hüttenmännische Monatshefte, 2017, pp. 1-6, DOI: 10.1007/s00501-017-0611-x