• 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 %.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.91-96
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• 2021

Rare earth magnets with excellent magnetic properties are indispensable in the electric device, wind turbine, and e-mobility industries. The demand for the development of eco-friendly recycling techniques has increased to realize sustainable green technology, and the supply of rare earth resources, which are critical for the production of permanent magnets, are limited. Liquid metal extraction (LME), which is a type of pyrometallurgical recycling, is known to selectively extract the metal forms of rare earth elements. Although several studies have been carried out on the formation of intermetallic compounds and oxides, the effect of oxide formation on the extraction efficiency in the LME process remains unknown. In this study, microstructural and phase analyses are conducted to confirm the oxidation behavior of magnets pulverized by a jaw crusher. The LME process is performed with pulverized scrap, and extraction percentages are calculated to confirm the effect of the oxide phases on the extraction of Dy during the reaction. During the L ME process, Nd is completely extracted after 6 h, while Dy remains as Dy₂Fe₁₇ and Dy-oxide. Because the decomposition rate of Dy₂Fe₁₇ is faster than the reduction rate of Dy-oxide, the importance of controlling Dy-oxide on Dy extraction is confirmed.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Resources Recycling Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.158-162
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• 2005

• Resources Recycling
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.31-36
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• 1996

The metallic copper was recovered from sludge of the copper electro-plating plant by pyrometallurgical process. The reducing agent was Pyrolysized from waste tires and the flux was a mixture $Na_2CO_3$, $NaB_4O_7$, and glass. The green sludge contained 87.5% moisture and 12.5% solid with 56.5% Cu and 1.59% Fe. The sludge dried at $100^{\circ}C$ was analyized to be $Cu_4SO_4(OH)_6{\cdot}2H_2O$ and CuO by XRD analysis. The former was 84% and the latter 16%, However, the calcined sludge at $500^{\circ}C$ was 49% $Cu_2O(SO_4)$ and 51% CuO. The sludge could by smelted at $1100^{\circ}C$ for two hours with 6 to 8 moles carbon with respect to copper to produce metallic copper (>90%) with recovery of 9% above.

• 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.24 no.2
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• pp.23-28
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• 2015

Most of the domestic need for tin rely on imports. In this work, a pyrometallurgical process was investigated to recover pure tin from the tin oxides in tin bath which results from the production of flat glass and LCD panel. From the results on the effect of reaction temperature, the highest recovery percentage of tin was obtained at $1350^{\circ}C$. The recovery percentage of tin was improved to 88% by employing the first and second smelting step. Electrorefining of the crude tin thus obtained led to pure tin with purity higher than 99.9%.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.12
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• pp.673-678
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• 2011

With an increased production of Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) in electronic equipment, the consumption of solder alloys is growing globally. Recently, increasing importance of recycling solder scrap has been recognized. Generally, solder scrap contains many impurities such as plastics and other metals. Hazardous components must be eliminated for recycling solder scrap. The present work studied pretreatment for reuse of solder scrap alloys. An experiment was conducted to enhance the cleanliness of solder scrap melt and eliminate impurities, especially lead. Physical separation with sieving and magnetic force was made along with pyrometallurgical methods. A small decrease in lead concentration was found by high temperature treatment of solder scrap melt. The impurities were removed by filtration of the solder scrap melt, which resulted in improvement of the melt cleanliness. A very low concentration of lead was achieved by a zone melting treatment with repeated passage. This study reports on a pretreatment process for the reuse of solder scrap that is lead free.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.101-106
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• 2023

Liquid metal extraction (LME), a pyrometallurgical recycling method, is popular owing to its negligible environmental impact. LME mainly targets rare-earth permanent magnets having several rare-earth elements. Mg is used as a solvent metal for LME because of its selective and eminent reactivity with rare-earth elements in magnets. Several studies concerning the formation of Dy-Fe intermetallic compounds and their effects on LME using Mg exist. However, methods for reducing these compounds are unavailable. Fe reacts more strongly with B than with Dy; B addition can be a reducing method for Dy-Fe intermetallic compounds owing to the formation of Fe₂B, which takes Fe from Dy-Fe intermetallic compounds. The FeB alloy is an adequate additive for the decomposition of Fe₂B. To accomplish the former process, Mg must convey B to a permanent magnet during the decomposition of the FeB alloy. Here, the effect of Mg on the transfer of B from FeB to permanent magnet is observed through microstructural and phase analyses. Through microstructural and phase analysis, it is confirmed that FeB is converted to Fe₂B upon B transfer, owing to Mg. Finally, the transfer effect of Mg is confirmed, and the possibility of reducing Dy-Fe intermetallic compounds during LME is suggested.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.23 no.3
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• pp.30-36
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• 2014

A large amount of waste copper slag containing about 35 ~ 45% iron has been generated and discarded every year from pyrometallurgical processes for producing copper from copper concentrate. Thus, recovery of iron from the waste copper slag is of great interest for comprehensive use of mineral resource and reduction of environment problems. In this study, a physico-chemical separation process for upgrading iron from the waste copper slag discharged as an industrial waste has been developed. The process first crushes the waste copper slag below 1 mm (first crushing step), followed by carbon reduction at $1225^{\circ}C$ for 90 min (carbon reduction step). And then, resulting material is again crushed to $-104{\mu}m$ (second crushing step), followed by wet magnetic separation (wet magnetic separation step). Using the developed process, a magnetic product containing more than 66 wt.% iron was obtained from the magnetic separation under a magnetic field strength of 0.2 T for the waste copper slag treated by the reduction reaction. At the same conditions, the percentage recovery of iron was over 72%. The iron rich magnetic product obtained should be used as a iron resource for making pig iron.

• Journal of Nuclear Fuel Cycle and Waste Technology(JNFCWT)
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.261-267
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• 2010

The pyrometallurgical nuclear fuel recycle process, called pyroprocessing, has been known as a promising nuclear fuel recycling technology. Pyroprocessing technology is crucial to advanced nuclear systems due to increased nuclear proliferation resistance and economic efficiency. The basic concept of pyroprocessing is group actinide recovery, which enhances the nuclear proliferation resistance significantly. One of the key steps in pyroprocessing is "electrowinning" which recovers group actinides with lanthanide from the spent nuclear fuels. In this study, a vertical cadmium distiller was manufactured. The evaporation rate of pure cadmium in vertical cadmium distiller varied from 12.3 to $40.8g/cm^2/h$ within a temperature range of 773 923 K and pressure below 0.01 torr. Uranium - cadmium alloy was fabricated by electrolysis using liquid cadmium cathode in a high purity argon atmosphere glove box. The distillation behavior of pure cadmium and cadmium in uranium - cadmium alloy was investigated. The distillation behavior of cadmium from this study could be used to develop an actinide recovery process from a liquid cadmium cathode in a cadmium distiller.