• Resources Recycling
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.60-67
• /
• 2016

A scale-up test with a continuous solvent extraction and electro-winning system was carried out to separate and recover copper from a synthetic sulfuric acid solution (Cu 10.5 g/L, Co 2.0 g/L, Ni 15.0 g/L, Fe 0.2 g/L). The solution was introduced into mixer-settlers with four stages of extraction and two stages of stripping for continuous countercurrent solvent extraction to separate copper from nickel and cobalt. The loading was carried out using 40% LIX 84-I(v/v) as extractant with a phase ratio of A : O = 1 : 1. Meanwhile, the stripping was undertaken at a phase ratio of A : O = 1 : 1.5 using depleted electrolyte containing 35.0 g/L Cu and 180 g/L $H_2SO_4$ as stripping solution. The extraction and stripping efficiencies were found to be 96.7% and 91.0%, respectively. The copper composition of the stripped solution (pregnant electrolyte) was 50.0 g/L Cu with impurities of 25 ppm nickel, 5 ppm cobalt and 3 ppm iron. In the electro-winning process, copper metal of 99.833 purity was yielded with current efficiency of 98.9% and current density of $1.50A/dm^2$.

• Resources Recycling
• /
• v.25 no.1
• /
• pp.48-59
• /
• 2016

The earth has been warming due to $CO_2$ gas emissions from fossil fuel cars and a ship. So the hydrogen fuel cell vehicle(FCV) using hydrogen as a fossil fuel alternative energy is in the spotlight. Hyundai Motor Company of Korea and a car companies of the US, Japan, Germany is developing a FCV a competitive. Obtained hydrogen as a by-product of the coke plant, oil refineries, chemical plants of steel mill, coal is reacted with steam at high temperatures, methane gas, manufacture of high purity hydrogen Methane Steam Reforming and hydrogen detachable reforming method using the Pressure Swing Adsorption or Membrane Reforming technical or decomposition of water to produce electricity. Hydrogen is the electronic industry, metal and chemical industries, which are used as rocket fuel, etc. are used in factories, hospitals, home of the fuel Ene.Farm system or FCV. And a method of storing hydrogen is to store liquid hydrogen and a method for compressing normal hydrogen to the hydrogen container, by storing the latest hydride or Organic chemical hydride method is used to carry the hydrogen station. Korea is currently 13 hydrogen stations in place and in operation, plans to install a further 43 places.

• Resources Recycling
• /
• v.26 no.5
• /
• pp.12-21
• /
• 2017

Red mud generated in the alumina manufacturing process contains various valuable resources, but it is not comprehensively recycled yet causing severe environmental problems. In Korea, red mud is producing about 200,000 tons annually and most of them are landfilled or disposed. Red mud's recycling technology is also being developed in many countries, but red mud's recycling technologies are still lacking compared to the production rate. In this study, we analyzed the characteristics and the amount of red mud, and the current status and technology development trend. Red mud has shown that recycling studies are being carried out in fields such as construction, recycling, metal recovery, adsorbent, and pollution stabilization. In particular, technologies for recovering rare earths have been developed as worldwide because of their high economic value. The data analyzed in this study will be used as basic data for the further development of technologies in the future.

• Resources Recycling
• /
• v.27 no.4
• /
• pp.29-35
• /
• 2018

In this study, the electrochemical redox behavior of neodymium in non-aqueous electrolytes was investigated to confirm the possibility of neodymium metallurgy at room temperature. The non-aqueous electrolytes include ionic liquids such as $[C_4mim]PF_6$, $[C_4mim]Cl$, and $[P_{66614}]PF_6$, ethanol which are highly soluble in neodymium salts, and mixed electrolytes based on carbonate with highly electrochemical stability. The electrochemical redox properties of neodymium were better than those of other electrolytes in the case of the mixed electrolyte based on ethylene carbonate (EC)/di-ethylene carbonate (DEC). Ethanol was added to improve the physical properties of the mixed electrolyte. Thorough the analysis about ionic conductivity of EC/DEC ratio, ethanol content and $NdCl_3$ concentration, the best electrolyte composition was 50 vol% content of ethanol and 0.5 M of $NdCl_3$. Using cyclic voltametry and linear sweep voltametry, a current peak estimated at -3.8 V (vs. Pt-QRE) was observed as a limiting current of neodymium reduction. Potentiostatic electrolysis for 18 hours at room temperature at -6 V (vs. Pt-QRE) confirmed that metallic neodymium was electrodeposited.

• Resources Recycling
• /
• v.28 no.5
• /
• pp.3-18
• /
• 2019

Due to the increasing demand for clean energy, the consumption of lithium ion batteries (LIBs) is expected to grow steadily. Therefore, stable supply of lithium is becoming an important issue globally. Commercially, most of lithium is produced from the brine and minerals viz., spodumene, although various processes/technologies have been developed to recover lithium from other resources such as low grade ores, clays, seawaters and waste lithium ion batteries. In particular, commercialization of such recycling technologies for end-of-life LIBs being generated from various sources including mobile phones and electric vehicles(EVs), has a great potential. This review presents the commercial processes and also the emerging technologies for exploiting minerals and brines, besides that of newly developed lithium-recovery-processes for the waste LIBs. In addition, the future lithium-supply is discussed from the technical point of view. Amongst the emerging processes being developed for lithium recovery from low-grade ores, focus is mostly on the pyro-cum-hydrometallurgical based approaches, though only a few of such approaches have matured. Because of low recycling rate (<1%) of lithium globally compared to the consumption of lithium ion batteries (56% of lithium produced currently), processing of secondary resources could be foresighted as the grand opportunity. Considering the carbon economy, environment, and energy concerns, the hydrometallurgical process may potentially resolve the issue.

• Resources Recycling
• /
• v.30 no.6
• /
• pp.53-60
• /
• 2021

In EAF steelmaking industries, MgO content in slag increases due to the addition of dolomite flux to protect refractory lines of furnaces and improve the desulfurization capability of slag. In addition, coal powder is injected in the molten steel bath to increase the energy efficiency of the process. In this regard, the utilization of waste MgO-C refractory material as a flux was examined because it has high amounts of MgO (>70%) and graphite carbon (>10%). A series of experiments were carried out using industrial EAF slag with added light burnt dolomite and waste MgO refractory material from a Korean steel company. The results for the addition of the two fluxes were similar in terms of slag basicity; therefore, it is expected that waste MgO-C refractory material can successfully replace dolomite flux. In addition, when the waste MgO-C refractory material was added as flux, slag foaming phenomenon was demonstrated because of the reaction between the graphite from the refractory material and iron oxides in the slag.

• Resources Recycling
• /
• v.30 no.5
• /
• pp.38-48
• /
• 2021

In this study, we determine the optimal process conditions for selectively recovering Si from a solar cell surface by removal of impurities (Al, Zn, Ag, etc.). To selectively recover Si from solar cells, leaching is performed using HCl solution and an ultrasonic cleaner. After leaching, the solar cells are washed using distilled water and dried in an oven. Decompression filtration is performed on the HCl solution, and ICP-OES (Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission spectroscopy) full scan analysis is performed on the filtered solution. Furthermore, XRD (X-ray powder diffraction), XRF (X-ray fluorescence), and ICP-OES are performed on the dried solar cells after crushing, and the purity and recovery rate of Si are obtained. In this experiment, the concentration of acid solution, reaction temperature, reaction time, and ultrasonic intensity are considered as variables. The results show that the optimal process conditions for the selective recovery of Si from the solar cells are as follows: the concentration of acid solution = 3 M HCl, reaction temperature = 60℃, reaction time = 120 min, and ultrasonic intensity = 150 W. Further, the Si purity and recovery rate are 99.85 and 99.24%, respectively.

• Resources Recycling
• /
• v.30 no.1
• /
• pp.53-59
• /
• 2021

Waste vinyl generated from household waste has been used as a solid refuse fuel (SRF) due to the presence of impurities such as soil, metal, and glass; however, the amount of SRF used has been decreasing owing to recent environmental problems, thereby necessitating the need for recycling. In this study, the mixed recycled raw material produced from household waste vinyl and polyethylene (PE) single recycled raw material produced from agricultural waste vinyl were examined. Raw material analysis revealed that waste vinyl was mainly composed of polyethylene, and approximately 2% of ash remained in the mixed recycled raw material, whereas no ash was found in the PE single recycled raw material. In addition, the analysis of tensile strength according to the mixing ratio of the two recycled raw materials revealed that the highest tensile strength was approximately 16 MPa under the heat treatment temperature of 200 ℃, compression pressure of 30 MPa, and a mixing ratio of 3:7 (mixed:PE single). In addition, the highest bending strength was approximately 39 MPa under the heat treatment temperature of 200 ℃, compression pressure of 30 MPa, and a mixing ratio of 3:7 (mixed:PE single). Therefore, the possibility of recycling waste vinyl was suggested by investigating the change in strength characteristics according to the mixing ratio of the recycled raw materials.

• Resources Recycling
• /
• v.27 no.6
• /
• pp.23-29
• /
• 2018

Recently rapid economic growth and technological development have led to an increase in the generation of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE). As the amount of electric and electronic waste generated increases, the importance of processing waste printed circuit boards (PCB) is also increasing. Various studies have been conducted to recycle various valuable metals contained in a waste PCB in an environmentally friendly and economical manner. To get anode slime containing Ag and Au, Anode copper prepared from PCB scraps was used by means of electro-refining. Ag and Au recovery was conducted by leaching, direct reduction, and ion exchange method. In the case of silver, the anode slime was leached at 3 M $HNO_3$, 100 g/L, $70^{\circ}C$, and Ag was recovered by precipitation, alkali dissolution, and reduction method. In the case of gold, the nitrate leaching residues of the anode slime was leached at 25% aqua regia, 200 g/L, $70^{\circ}C$, and Au was recovered by pH adjustment, ion exchange resin adsorption, desorption and reduction method. The purity of the obtained Au and Ag were confirmed to be 99.99%.

• Resources Recycling
• /
• v.28 no.4
• /
• pp.44-50
• /
• 2019

In the electric arc furnace process, the chemical energy such as the heat of oxidation reaction and the heat of carbon combustion etc. is consumed as 30% of the total input energy. In order to reduce $CO_2$ emission in EAF, it is necessary to decrease the use of electric power energy during scrap melting stage and increase the use of chemical energy. In general, when the carbon materials is individually charged into the molten steel, the carbon materials floated to the slag layer due to low density before it is dissolved in molten steel. When the concentration of carbon in the molten steel is high, the combustion energy of carbon by oxygen injection can lower the electric power energy and improve the chemical energy consumption. Therefore, an efficient charging methods of carbon material is required to increase the efficiency of carbon combustion heat. On the other hand, Al-dross, which is known as a by-product after Al smelting, includes over 25 mass% of metallic Al, and the oxidation heats of Al is lager than that of carbon. However, the recycling ratio fo Al-dross was very low and is almost landfilled. In order to effectively utilize the heats of oxidation of Al in Al-dross, it is necessary to study the application of Al-dross in the steel process. In this study, the dissolution efficiency of carbon and aluminum in molten steel was investigated by varying the reaction temperature and the mixing ratios of coke and Al-dross.