• Resources Recycling
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.28-36
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• 2008

The effect of attrition scrubbing on the recovery of platinum group metals (PGMs) from automobile catalytic converters has been investigated. Catalytic converters were first crushed into particles less than 2 mm and attrition scrubbed in the range of 60 min, and then they were sieved with several screens. The catalyst layer, $\gamma$-alumina, was dislodged from the surface of the supporting matrix into fine particles less than $45{\mu}m$ by attrition scrubbing. The fraction of fine particles less than $45{\mu}m$ increased as the residence time for attrition scrubbing increased. The composition of the fine fraction obtained at a residence time of 40 min was $CeO_2$ 19.3%, $ZrO_2$ 1.9% and PGMs 419 ppm. In the fine fraction, the recovery of y-alumina increased proportionally to the residence time. Simultaneously, the recovery rates of $CeO_2$, $ZrO_2$ and PGMs increased to 82.9%, 78.7% and 78.9%, respectively. The production of the fine fraction less than $45{\mu}m$ and the recovery of $\gamma$-alumina increased when the solid concentration and initial feed size increased. Therefore, the attrition scrubbing as the comminution and separation process was concerned to be effective for the recovery of catalyst layer from ceramic supporting matrix by physical impact and shearing action between particles in the scrubbing vessel.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.24 no.6
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• pp.9-16
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• 2015

In a recycling scheme of spent lithium ion batteries, a co-precipitation process for the re-synthesis of precursor is essential after the leaching of lithium ion battery scraps. In this study, the effect of ammonia as impurity during the co-precipitation process was investigated in order to re-synthesize a precursor of Ni-rich cathode active material $LiNi_{0.6}Co_{0.2}Mn_{0.2}O_2$ (NCM 622). As ammonia concentration increases from 1 M (the optimum condition for synthesis of the precursors based on 2 M of metal salt solution) to 4 M, the composition of obtained precursors deviates from the designed composition, most notably for Ni. The Ni co-precipitation efficiency gradually decreases from 100% to 87% when the concentration of ammonia solution increases from 1 M to 4 M. Meanwhile, the morphological properties of the obtained precursors such as sphericity, homogeneity and size distribution of particles were also investigated.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.73-80
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• 2013

Metal prices are rapidly rising due to increasing demand of metals and limited available resources according to the industrial requirement. As a result, securing a stable supply of these metal resources has been recognized as a core element of national competitiveness and sustained economic growth. In the case of magnesium and its alloys which are entirely depending on import, low-grade magnesium scraps from end-of-life vehicles and 3C(Camera, Computer, Communication) parts and magnesium wastes such as sludge and dross generated during melting process are hardly recycled. Accordingly, the development and commercialization of recycling technology of low-grade magnesium scrap is desperately needed to improve efficiency of resource circulation and to establish the required proprietary of resource metal supply and demand. In this study, papers and patents on recycling technologies of waste magnesium were analyzed. The range of search was limited in the open patents of USA (US), European Union (EP), Japan (JP), Korea (KR) and SCI journals from 1974 to 2012. Patents and journals were collected using key-words searching and filtered by filtering criteria. The trends of the patents and journals was analyzed by the years, countries, companies, and technologies.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.51-58
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• 2008

Artificial mattes were prepared with adding pyrite or chalcopyrite as sulfur sources with Cu-Ni-Co-Fe alloy. The major phases identified by X-ray diffraction pattern were $(FeSi)_9S_8$, $CuFeS_2$, FeS, $Co_4S_3$, $Ni_3S_2$ and $Cu_2S$ for both mattes, and the matte prepared by adding chalcopyrite showed the higher peak of $Cu_2S$ due to high content of copper. Under optimum conditions, more than 95% copper, 90% nickel and 90% cobalt were extracted into leaching solution and sulfur concentration in the mattes did not much affect the leaching efficiency of the metals. The increase of the amount of pyrite or chalcopyrite added decreased pH in leaching solution and increased the concentration of iron ion dissolved in the leaching solution and the amount of residue.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.29 no.5
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• pp.55-63
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• 2020

In order to investigate the separation of Co(II) and Ni(II) by ionic liquids from weak hydrochloric acid solutions, extraction experiments were performed by changing the type and concentration of ionic liquids and the initial pH of the aqueous phase. Two kinds of ionic liquids based on Aliquat 336 were employed in this work; one was synthesized by reacting organophosphorus acids(D2EHPA, PC88A, Cyanex 272, Cyanex 301) with Aliquat 336 and the other was prepared by exchanging the chloride ion of Aliquat 336 with SCN^-. The three types of ionic liquids (ALi-D2, ALi-PC, and ALi-CY272) showed better extraction of Co(II) than Ni(II), and the equilibrium pH was higher than the initial pH. In the case of ALi-CY301, the selectivity of Co(II) and Ni(II) depended on the extraction conditions. In addition, the effect of the addition of TBP to the ionic liquid on the extraction of two metals was also investigated. Employment of ALi-SCN as an extractant resulted in selective extraction of Co(II) and complete separation of the two metal ions was possible.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.45-52
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• 2019

$TiO_2$ as a raw material for producing titanium can be produced by carbon reduction of natural ilmenite ores over 1823 K and acid leaching of the obtained titanium-rich slag. However, the conventional process can cause very high energy consumption and a large amount of leaching residues. In the present study, we proposed the sulfurization of $FeTiO_3$ with $Na_2SO_4$ at temperatures below 1573 K, which can separate Fe in $FeTiO_3$ as the FeS based sulfide phase and Ti as the $TiO_2-Na_2O$ based oxide phase. This study is a fundamental study for sulfurization of $FeTiO_3$ to investigate the influence of reducing atmosphere, reaction temperature and the sulfur/Fe ratio on the separability and distribution behaviors of of Fe, Ti, and Na between the oxide phase and the sulfurized phase. At 1573 K and carbon saturation condition, the Fe can be separated from $FeTiO_3$ as Fe-C-S metal and a part of FeS, and the concentration of Fe in oxide decreased to 4 mass% after sulfurization.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.96-105
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• 2019

Automobile shredder residue (ASR) is the final waste produced when end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) are shredded. ASR can be separated using mineral-processing operations such as comminution, air classification, magnetic separation, and/or electrostatic separation. In this work, trajectory analyses of conductors (copper) and non-conductors (glass) in the ASR have been carried out using induction electrostatic separator for predicting or improving the ASR-separation efficiency. From results of trajectory analysis for conductors, the trajectories of copper wire by observation versus simulation for coarse particles of 0.5 and 0.25 mm showed consistent congruity. The observed 0.06 mm fine-particles trajectory was deflected toward the (-) attractive electrode owing to the charge-density effects due to the particle characteristics and relative humidity. In the case of non-conductors, the actual trajectory of dielectric glass deflected toward the (-) electrode, showing characteristics similar to those of conductive particles. The analyses of stereoscopic microscope and SEM & EDS found heterologous materials (fine ferrous particles and conductive organics) on the glass surface. This demonstrates the glass decreasing separation efficiency for non-ferrous metals during electrostatic separation for the recycling of ASR. Future work will require a pretreatment process for eliminating impurities from the glass and advanced trajectory-simulation processes.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.26-36
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• 2009

A recovery process of Ruthenium from waste electronic scrap has been investigated by means of nitric acid leaching as a part of development for scrap pretreatment process to obtaining an optimum conditions for removal of removing various impurities such as Pb, Bi, Zn, Al, Bi, Ag Fe, Co, Zr, Si. From the experiments, 90% of Pb leached with 250 g/l pulp density in 10-15% nitric acid. Leaching behavior of Ba was also similar to that of the Pb, but those of other metal impurities, such as Zn, Al, Bi, Ag, Fe, Co, Zr, showed different behavior, in which the dissolution rate increased as the concentration of nitric acid in solution is increased up to the 10% $HNO_3$ in solution and then it was constant above 10% $HNO_3$ concentrations. Meanwhile, the dissolution of Ru in $HNO_3$ solution was less then 100ppm, and that the total content of Ru in undissolved residue scrap was resulted in an increment of 50%.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.28-39
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• 2011

This review investigated theoretical principals and practical application examples on recirculation system of soil washing-wastewater treatment-treated water recycling. As for technologies which have attempted to remediating metals-contaminated soil in and around country, there are reactive barriers, encapsulation, solidification/stabilization, soil washing, and phytoremediation. Among those, in particular, this review covers soil washing technology which physicochemically removes contaminants from soils. The major drawbacks of this technology are to generate a large amount of wastewater which contains contaminants complexed with ligands of washing solution and needs additional treatment process. To solve these problems, many chemical treatment methods have been developed as follows: precipitation/coprecipitation, membrane filtration, adsorption treatment, ion exchange, and electrokinetic treatment. In the last part of the review, recent research and field application cases on soil washing wastewater treatment and recycling were introduced. Based on these integrated technologies, it could be achieved to solve the problem of soil washing wastewater and to enhance cost effective process by reducing total water resources use in soil washing process.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.41-50
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• 2010

A fundamental study was carried out to develop a process for recycling tungsten and cobalt from WC-Co hardmetal sludge generated in the manufacturing process of hardmetal tools. The complete extraction of cobalt and simultaneous formation of tungstic was achieved by treating the sludge using aqua regia. The effect of aqua regia concentration, reaction temperature and time, pulp density on cobalt leaching and tungstic acid formation was investigated. The complete leaching of cobalt was attained at the optimum conditions: 100 vol.% aqua regia concentration, $100^{\circ}C$ temperature, 60 min. reaction time and 400 g/L pulp density. A complete conversion of tungsten carbide of the sludge to tungstic acid was however, obtained at the pulp densities lower than 150 g/L under the above condition. The progress of reaction during the aqua regia treatment of the sludge was monitored through the XRD phase identification of the residue. The metallic impurities in the tungstic acid so produced could be further removed as insoluble residues by dissolving the tungsten values in ammonia solution. The ammonium paratungstate($(NH_4)_{10}{\cdot}H_2W_{12}O_{42}{\cdot}4H_2O$) of 99.85% purity was prepared from the ammonium polytungstate solution by the evaporation crystallization method.