• Advances in environmental research
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• v.5 no.2
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• pp.125-140
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• 2016

The paper is focused on the economic analysis of two hydrometallurgical processes for recovery of yttrium and other rare earth elements (REEs) from fluorescent phosphors of spent lamps. The first process includes leaching with sulphuric acid and precipitation of a mixture of oxalates by oxalic acid, the second one includes leaching with sulphuric acid, solvent extraction with D2EHPA, stripping by acid and recovery of yttrium and traces of other rare earths (REs) by precipitation with oxalic acid. In both cases the REEs were recovered as oxides by calcination of the oxalate salts. The economic analysis was estimated considering the real capacity of the HydroWEEE mobile's plant ($420kg\;batch^{-1}$). For the first flow-sheet the cost of recycling comes to $4.0{\euro}kg^{-1}$, while the revenue from the end-product is around $5.40{\euro}kg^{-1}$. The second process is not profitable, as well as the first one, taking into account the composition of the final oxides: the cost of recycling comes to $5.2{\euro}kg^{-1}$, while the revenue from the end-product is around $3.56{\euro}kg^{-1}$. The process becomes profitable if the final RE oxide mixture is sold for nearly $50{\euro}kg^{-1}$, a value rather far from the current market prices but not so unlikely since could be achieved in the incoming years, considering the significant fluctuations of the Res' market.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2002.11a
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• pp.313-316
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• 2002

비철금속 습식 제련용 고효율 장수명의 양극을 개발하기 위해서 산소 과전압이 낮은 $MnO_{2}$를 촉매로 사용하여 반도체 산화물계의 산소선택성 전극을 제조하고 산화물 coating층의 미세구조와 전기화학적 특성을 분석하였다. PVDF : $MnO_{2}$의 함량비플 1 : 1 에서 1 : 40까지 정량적으로 변화시켰고， 용제의 점도에 지배적인 영향을 미치는 DMF의 함량을 각각의 고정된 PVDF : $MnO_{2}$의 함량비에서 변화시켜 용제를 제조하였으며 4% $HNO_{3}$ 용액에 세척된 Pb전극을 1.5 mm/sec 의 속도로 5회 dipping 하였다. PVDF : $MnO_{2}$ = 1 : 6인 경우 PVDF의 양이 증가하고 DMF의 양이 감소할수록 피막층이 두꺼워지고 PVDF : DMF = 4 : 96인 경우 pb 전극의 피막층이 얇기 때문에 박리현상이 일어났으며 이는 산화물 용제의 낮은 점도 때문인 것으로 판단된다. 또한 PVDF : DMF = 10 : 90의 경우는 5회 dipping 하여 약 $150{\mu}m$의 피막층을 형성하였다. PVDF : Mn02의 함량비가 1:1에서 1:6 까지는 DMF의 함량에 무관하게 전극 특성이 나타나지 않았지만 $MnO_{2}$의 양이 상대적으로 증가하면 cycle 이 증가하더라도 거의 일정한 전류 값을 갖고$MnO_2$와 PVDF의 비가 20:1 이상의 조성에서는 균일한 CV 특성을 나타냈다 이는 $MnO_{2}$가 효과적으로 촉매 작용을 한 것으로 판단되며 anodic polarization에 의한 산소 발생 과전압도 약 1.4V 정도로 감소되었다.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.25 no.5
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• pp.64-74
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• 2016

Titanium and iron are closely related in nature, although titanium is the ninth most abundant element in the Earth's crust. Iron in titanium ores must be removed for use as feedstocks in the manufacture of titanium dioxide pigments and pure $TiCl_4$ for metal titanium. In this study, various beneficiation processes of ilmenite for production of $TiO_2$ have been reviewed and compared. Most of these processes involve a combination of pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy. These beneficiation processes of ilmenite generate considerable quantities of wastes primarily in the form of iron salt, iron oxide and acidic effluents. Therefore, it is important that recovery of acid value from waste and conversion of iron bearing waste to useful materials for development of new beneficiation processes of ilmenite.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.28 no.5
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• pp.30-41
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• 2019

Global production of zinc is about 13 million tons and zinc is the fourth-most widely used primary metal in the world following iron, aluminum and copper. When zinc is recycled to produce secondary zinc, it can save about 75 % of the total energy that is needed to produce the primary zinc from ore, and in therms of $CO_2$ emissions reduced by about 40 %. However, since zinc is mainly used for galvanizing of steel, the recycling rate of zinc is about 25 %, which is lower than other metals. The raw materials for recycling of zinc include dusts generated in the production of steel and brass, sludge in the production process of non-ferrous metals, dross in the melting of zinc ingots or hot dip galvanizing, waste batteries, and metallic scrap. Among them, steelmaking dust and waste batteries are most actively recycled up to now. Most of the recycling process uses pyrometallurgical methods. Recently, however, much attention has been given to a combined process of pyrometallurgical and hydrometallurgical processes.

• 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.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.3-14
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• 2019

Lead is one of the common non-ferrous metals used in modern industry. The usage of lead continues to increase and has risen from 5 million tonnes per year worldwide in the 1970s to 11 million tonnes in the 2010s. In principle lead is virtually 100 % recyclable as an element without loss of quality. The recycling of lead scrap reduces the energy consumption and environmental burden, comparing to the primary metal production. Therefore production of secondary lead from scrap has been steadily growing and at present it meets approximately 60 % of usage worldwide. Lead scrap (mainly lead-acid battery) is smelted in primary and secondary smelter. Most secondary lead smelting were performed in a shaft-type furnace (blast furnace), rotary furnace and reverberatory furnace. The lead bullion is either cast into ingots and re-melted in refining kettles or refining is performed on the hot lead bullion immediately after production. This work provides an overview of the primary lead production and recycling process.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.30 no.2
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• pp.3-13
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• 2021

Nickel is widely used due to its excellent toughness, malleability and enhanced corrosion resistance. Therefore, nickel is indispensable in our daily lives, and it is widely used in basic to advanced applications such as stainless steel, super alloys and electronic devices. Recently, nickel has been widely used as the major material in secondary batteries and capacitors. The use of nickel continues to rise and has increased from 800 thousand tonnes per year worldwide in the 1970s to about 2 million tonnes in the 2010s. However, nickel is a representative rare metal and ranks 23rd among the abundant elements in the earth's crust. This study reviews the current status of the nickel smelting processes as well as the trend in production amount and use. Nickel is extracted by a wide variety of smelting methods depending on the type of ore. These smelting methods are essential for the development of new recycling processes that can extract nickel from secondary nickel resources.

• Analytical Science and Technology
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• v.37 no.1
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• pp.47-62
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• 2024

Abu Gurdi area is located in the South-eastern Desert of Egypt which considered as volcanic massive sulfide deposits (VMS). The present work aims at investigating the ore mineralogy of Abu Gurdi region in addition to the effectiveness of the hydrometallurgical route for processing these ores using alkaline leaching for the extraction of Zn, Cu, and Pb in the presence of hydrogen peroxide, has been investigated. The factors affecting the efficiency of the alkaline leaching of the used ore including the reagent composition, reagent concentration, leaching temperature, leaching time, and Solid /Liquid ratio, have been investigated. It was noted that the sulfide mineralization consists mainly of chalcopyrite, sphalerite, pyrite, galena and bornite. Gold is detected as rare, disseminated crystals within the gangue minerals. Under supergene conditions, secondary copper minerals (covellite, malachite, chrysocolla and atacamite) were formed. The maximum dissolution efficiencies of Cu, Zn, and Pb at the optimum leaching conditions i.e., 250 g/L NaCO₃ - NaHCO₃ alkali concentration, for 3 hr., at 250 ℃, and 1/5 Solid/liquid (S/L) ratio, were 99.48 %, 96.70 % and 99.11 %, respectively. An apparent activation energy for Zn, Cu and Pb dissolution were 21.599, 21.779 and 23.761 kJ.mol^-1, respectively, which were between those of a typical diffusion-controlled process and a chemical reaction-controlled process. Hence, the diffusion of the solid product layer contributed more than the chemical reaction to control the rate of the leaching process. High pure Cu(OH)₂, Pb(OH)₂, and ZnCl₂ were obtained from the finally obtained leach liquor at the optimum leaching conditions by precipitation at different pH. Finally, highly pure Au metal was separated from the mineralized massive sulfide via using adsorption method.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.62-68
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• 2020

In new millennium, wide-reaching demands for selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalyst have been increased gradually in new millennium. SCR catalyst can prevent the NO_x emission to protect the environment. In SCR catalyst the main composition of the catalyst is typically TiO₂ (70~80%), WO₃ (7~10%), V₂O₅ (~1%) and others. When the SCR catalysts are used up and disposed to landfills, it is problematic that those should exist in the landfill site permanently due to their extremely low degradability. A new advanced technology needs to be developed primarily to protect environment and then recover the valuable metals. Hydrometallurgical techniques such as leaching and liquid-liquid extraction was designed and developed for the spent SCR catalyst processing. In a first stage, V and W selectively leached from spent SCR catalyst, then both the metals were processed by liquid-liquid extraction process. Various commercial extractants such as D2EHPA, PC 88A, TBP, Cyanex 272, Aliquat 336 were tested for selective extraction of title metals. Scrubbing and stripping studies were tested and optimized for vanadium and tungsten extraction and possible separation. 3^rd phase studies were optimized by using iso-decanol reagent.

• Resources Recycling
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• v.29 no.2
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• pp.69-77
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• 2020

With rapid increasing production and installation, recycling of photovoltaic modules has become the main issue. According to the research, the accumulation of waste modules will reach to 8600 tons in 2030. Moreover, Crystalline-silicon (c-Si) Photovoltaic modules account for more than 90% of the waste. C-Si PV modules contain 1.3% of weight of photovoltaic ribbon inside which contains the most of lead, tin and copper in the PV modules, which would cause environmental and humility problem. This study provided a valuable metal separation process for PV ribbons. Ribbons content 82.1% of Cu, 8.9% of Sn, 5.2% of Pb, and 3.1% of Ag. All of them were leached by 3M of hydrochloric acid in the optimal condition. Ag was halogenated to AgCl and precipitated. Cu ion was extracted and separated from Pb and Sn by Lix984N then stripped by 3M H2SO4. The effect of the optimal parameters of extraction was also studied in this essay. The maximum extraction efficiency of Cu ion was 99.64%. The separation condition of Pb and Sn were obtained by adjusting the pH value to 4 thought ammonia to precipitate and separate Pb and Sn. The recovery of Pb and Sn can reach 99%.