• Resources Recycling
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• v.16 no.3 s.77
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• pp.3-11
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• 2007

Presently, most of gold is smelted from gold concentrates and anode slimes. Anode slimes are by-products of nonferrous smelters such as lead and copper. In addition, gold is recovered from waste dental and medical materials, waste gold coating solution, and waste printed circuit boards (waste PCBs). The smelting method of gold from gold concentrates and various wastes containing high concentration of gold is largely divided into chlorination, cyanidation, and amalgamation methods. For the anode slimes, electrolysis method is usually used, which largely consists of roasting, high temperature melting and electrolysis processes. Also, various wastes containing low concentration of gold are mainly treated by pyrometallursical processes. In the paper, current status on gold smelting technology is reviewed, and a novel process for gold smelting which is researched in the recent is briefly introduced.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.31 no.3
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• pp.27-39
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• 2022

The global demand for lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) has been continuously increasing since the 1990s along with the growth of the portable electronic device market. Of late, the rapid growth of the electric vehicle market has further accelerated the demand for LIBs. The demand for the LIBs is expected to surpass the supply of lithium from natural resources in the near future, posing a risk to the global lithium supply chain. Moreover, the continuous accumulation of end-of-life LIBs is expected to cause serious environmental problems. To solve these problems, recycling the spent LIBs must be viewed as a critical technological challenge that must be urgently addressed. In this study, recycling LIBs using pyrometallurgical processes and post-processes for efficient lithium recovery are briefly reviewed along with the major accomplishments in the field and current challenges.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.23 no.6
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• pp.12-21
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• 2014

Nickel oxide ores are composed of two kinds of minerals; one is saprolite that is processed by smelting to obtain nickel products, and the other is limonite that is used in hydrometallugical processes. It is not efficient economically to process the mixture of limonite and saprolite, so the processes to saparate the ore mixture should be developed. In the present study, the mixture was separated by dry-classification after liberationg using grindability difference between limonite and saprolite. Consequently, it is possible to obtain the limonite with less than 10% of Mg+Si contents, which could be treated by hydrometallurgical processes, when the limonite contain less than 30% of saprolite.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.33 no.2
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• pp.24-36
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• 2024

The lithium-ion battery recycling process has been classified into direct recycling, hydrometallurgical process, and pyrometallurgical process. The commercial process based on the hydrometallurgical process produces black mass through pretreatment processes consisting of dismantling, crushing and grinding, heat treatment, and beneficiation, and then each metal is recovered by hydrometallurgical processes. Since all lithium-ion battery recycling processes under development conducts hydrometallurgical processes such as leaching, after the pretreatment process, to produce precursor raw materials, this article suggests a classification method according to the pretreatment method of the recycling process. The processes contain sulfation roasting, carbothermic reduction roasting, and alloy manufacturing, and the economic feasibility of the lithium-ion battery recycling process can be enhanced using unused by-products in the pretreatment process.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.49-54
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• 2016

In this study, zircon sand is separated into zirconia and silica by using the Ar-$H_2$ arc plasma refining. And then silica is removed from it by the microwave leaching method to produce a high pure zirconia. Plasma melting consist of two sequential processes; reduction process with Ar gas only followed by refining process with Ar-$H_2$ gas. After cooling in chamber. The solid phase obtained at $240^{\circ}C$ were found to be composed of 20% sulfuric acid solution. The solution was used as a leaching solution with microwave irradiation to obtain a high purity zirconia.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.27-35
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• 2010

Rare earth alloys and compounds are the raw materials for the manufacture of advanced materials. Although domestic monazite ores have been found, there are some difficulties in recovering rare earth from these ores. Rare earth ores are found in few countries and these countries put an embargo on the export of rare earth ores for the protection of their industry. We gathered some information on the hydrometallurgical and pyrometallurgical processes to recover rare earths from bastnasite, monazite, and xenotime which consist of 95% of the total rare earth ores. Since rare earth with the purity more than 6N is needed for use in advanced materials, some separation methods such as fractional crystallization, precipitation, ion exchange, and solvent extraction were introduced.

• Proceedings of the Korean Radioactive Waste Society Conference
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• 2003.11a
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• pp.426-430
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• 2003

Fissionable uranium will be separated from long-lived nuclear materials in pyroprocess for transmutation. This study was measured decomposition voltage and deposition rate on cathode of uranium in $LiF-BeF_2$ molten salt by electrowinning. The result of experimental is that decomposition voltage of $UF_4$ and $LiF-BeF_2$ molten salt is -1.4 and -1.5 volt at $500^{\circ}C$ Deposition rate of uranium on cathode increases with increase of uranium concentration in molten salt.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.68-76
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• 2018

EAF (Electric arc furnace) dust is an important secondary resource such as zinc, lead, and iron. Recycling of EAF dust is benefit to solving disposal and environmental problems caused by the heavy metals entrained in the dust. In this study, pyrometallurgical treatment technology of EAF dust reviewed for the improvement of conventional process and development of new process. The existing technologies categorized into four groups: those by rotary kiln process, rotary hearth furnace (RHF) process, shaft type process, and reduction smelting process. The product of these processes are ZnO and Fe or slag as a waste. Their mechanisms for the production of ZnO from EAF dust were carbothermic reduction and oxidation of zinc gas with air.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.36-46
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• 2024

We investigated a hydrometallurgical process of nickel recovery from Inconel 713C scrap. The process proceeded with a series of i) comminution of pyrometallurgical treated scrap, ii) sulfuric acid leaching, iii) solvent extraction of unreacted acid, molybdenum, aluminum, and precipitation of chromium, iv) crystallization of nickel sulfate by vacuum evaporation, and v) nickel electrowinning. The nickel-aluminum intermetallic compound, Ni₂Al₃, was formed by the pyrometallurgical pretreatment readily grounded under 75 ㎛. Sulfuric acid leaching was done for 2 hours in 2 mol/L, 20 g/L solid/liquid ratio, and 80 ℃. It revealed that over 98 % of nickel and aluminum was dissolved, whereas 28 % of molybdenum was. A nickel sulfate solution with 2.34 g/L for the crystallization of nickel sulfate hydrate was prepared via solvent extraction and precipitation. Over 99 % of molybdenum and aluminum and 93 % of chromium was removed. Nickel metal with 99.9 % purity was obtained by electrowinning with the nickel sulfate monohydrate in the cell equipped with anion exchange membranes for catholyte pH control. The membrane did not work well, resulting in a low current efficiency of 73.3 %.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.3-14
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• 2019

Copper is one of the first metals utilized by humankind about 11,500 years ago. But copper is not plentiful metallic element in the earth's crust. Copper has a high thermal and electric conductivity and is relatively corrosion resistant. In principle copper is virtually 100 % recyclable as an element without loss of quality. The recycling of copper scrap reduces the energy consumption and environmental burden, comparing to the primary metal production. Currently, approximately 30% of the global copper supply provides by recycling. Copper scrap is smelted in primary and secondary smelter. Type of furnace and process steps depend on the quality and grade of scrap. Depending on copper content of the secondary raw material, refining is required, which is usually done through electrorefining. This work provides an overview of the primary copper production and recycling process.