• 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%.

• 한국연소학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2014.11a
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• pp.305-307
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• 2014

Pyroprocessing (or pyrometallurgy) is the way of extracting from materials subjected to high temperatures. Generally, this process has a high energy consumption because of mass production and heating-up. To attain effective and efficient energy management, energetic analysis using 0-dimensional model is usually conducted. However, this model can lead to a misunderstanding about energy evaluation due to many assumptions and limitations. In this study, heat & mass balance using 0-dimensional model was reviewed to systematize problems and considerations in general process energy evaluation.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.699-710
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• 2019

Electric vehicles (EVs) are spreading rapidly and many counties are promoting hybrid and fully EVs through legislation. Therefore, an increasing amount of lithium ion batteries will reach the end of their usable life and will require effective and sustainable end-of-life management plan which include landfill disposal or incineration. The current research focuses on more sustainable methods such as remanufacturing, reuse and recycling in order to prepare for future battery compositions and provide insights to the need recycling methods to be developed to handle large amounts of batteries sustainably in the near future. The two most prominent material recovery techniques are hydrometallurgy and pyrometallurgy which are explored and assessed on their relative effectiveness, sustainability, and feasibility. Hydrometallurgy is a superior recycling method due to high material recovery and purity, very low emissions, high prevalence of chemical reuse and implementation of environmentally sustainable compounds. Expanding recycling technologies globally should take the research and technologies pioneered by Umicore to establish a sustainable recycling program for end-of-life EVs batteries. Emerging battery technology of Telsa show the most effective designs for high performance batteries includes the use of silicon which is expected to increase capacity of batteries in the future.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.608-613
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• 2017

We proposed a pyrometallurgical process to achieve gold alloy with an Au content of more than 80wt% from low grade (<35wt%) gold alloys. We performed the heat treatment at a temperature of $1200^{\circ}C$ for 5 hrs using Au35wt%-Ag5wt%-Cu60wt% gold alloys mixed with 1/2 weighed PbO and CaO flux by varying the ratio of PbO/(PbO+CaO) from 0 to 1. We investigated the change in content of the samples with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (ToF-SIMS). The EDS results showed that the Au content increased from 35.0wt% in the PbO-only sample to 86.7wt% (in the PbO/(PbO+CaO) 1:1 sample), while the other samples achieved more that 84wt%. In addition, the 2/3 flux ratio sample showed the lowest Ag loss into the flux. In the ToF-SIMS results, the PbO only and CaO only fluxes had Au+ peak intensities of 349 and 37, respectively. Although the CaO-only flux might be more favorable considering the loss of Au into the flux, we concluded that the amount of Au lost into the flux could be ignored. Our results imply that that the pyrometallurgical process using a mixed flux is an effective hydrometallurgical process.

• 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.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.252-261
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• 2022

Cobalt is a vital metal in the modern society because of its applications in lithium-ion batteries, super alloys, hard metals, and catalysts. Further, cobalt is a representative rare metal and is the 30th most abundant element in the Earth's crust. This study reviews the current status of cobalt extraction and recycling processes, along with the trends in its production amount and use. Although cobalt occurs in a wide range of minerals, such as oxides and sulfides of copper and nickel ores, the amounts of cobalt in the minerals are too low to be extracted economically. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) leads cobalt mining, and accounts for 68.9 % of the global cobalt reserves (142,000 tons in 2020). Cobalt is mainly extracted from copper-cobalt and nickel-cobalt concentrates and is occasionally extracted directly from the ore itself by hydro-, pyro-, and electro-metallurgical processes. These smelting methods are essential for developing new recycling processes to extract cobalt from secondary resources. Cobalt is mainly recycled from lithium-ion batteries, spent catalysts, and cobalt alloys. The recycling methods for cobalt also depend on the type of secondary cobalt resource. Major recycling methods from secondary resources are applied in pyro- and hydrometallurgical processes.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.56 no.4
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• pp.259-264
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• 2023

As the demand for lithium-ion batteries, a key power source in electric vehicles and energy storage systems, continues to increase for achieving global carbon neutrality, there is a growing concern about the environmental impact of disposing of spent batteries. Extensive research is underway to develop efficient recycling methods. While hydrometallurgy and pyrometallurgy methods are commonly used to recover valuable metals from spent cathode materials, they have drawbacks including hazardous waste and complex processes. Hence, alternative recycling methods that are environmentally friendly are being explored. However, recycling spent cathode materials still remains complex and energy-intensive. This study focuses on a novel approach called solid-state synthesis, which aims at regenerating the performance of spent cathode materials. The method offers a simpler process and reduces energy consumption. Optimal heat treatment conditions were identified based on experimental results, contributing to the development of sustainable recycling technologies for lithium-ion batteries.

• 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.26 no.4
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• pp.95-100
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• 2017

In this study, $Fe_2O_3$ was added as a flux to decrease melting temperature and refine during melting of Cu powder from scraped surface of the waste PCB (printed circuit board). The effect of $Fe_2O_3$ ratio to Cu powder and temperature on the recovery of Cu and content of impurities were investigated. It was found that the recovery of Cu was increased with increasing addition ratio of $Fe_2O_3$ and reaction temperature. The contents of O, Si and Fe in Cu phase were also decreased with increasing addition ratio of $Fe_2O_3$ and temperature. The formation of fayalite ($2FeO{\cdot}SiO_2$) and iron oxides phases in the slag was confirmed by XRD analysis after reaction with $Fe_2O_3$. Therefore, it was considered that the decrease of melting temperature and viscosity of slag by formation of fayalite slag contributed remarkably to the Cu recovery.

• 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.