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Recovery of zinc, copper, silver, and iron from zinc smelter residue.
Powell-HE; Higley-LW Jr.
NTIS: PB 221 913 :1-15
This Bureau of Mines study describes two processes for recovering zinc, copper, silver, and iron from the magnetic fraction of a waste generated by the primary smelting of zinc in horizontal retort distillation furnaces. The laboratory-scale procedures include reduction melting to produce a high-copper iron and matte smelting to produce a copper-silver-iron matte and metallic iron. Zinc is fumed in each process and recovered as the oxide. Direct reduction melting yields a metallic iron high in copper and a small rich matte from the sulfur contained in the waste. The products of the second process are a matte containing essentially all of the silver, about 80 percent of the copper and 37 percent of the iron, and an iron- copper alloy containing all of the remaining copper. Extraction with metallic lead or sodium sulfate recovers essentially all of the copper from the molten high-copper iron and yields an acceptable foundry iron.
IH; Report of Investigations
NTIS Accession No.
NTIS: PB 221 913
Page last reviewed: April 12, 2019
Content source: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health Education and Information Division