TY - GEN

T1 - Carbon-reduced pyrometallurgical extraction of critical elements from jarosite and goethite

AU - Höber, Lukas

AU - Steinlechner, Stefan

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - In course of the hydrometallurgical production of zinc, millions of tons of iron precipitation residues are annually generated and disposed. Those residues, mainly jarosite and goethite, can bear signifi-cant concentrations of critical metals, such as indium and silver amongst zinc, lead, copper and other minor metals. The only generally applied method for jarosite is the Jarofix-process which aims to generate a stable material with sufficient low elution properties for the subsequent disposal, whereby the valuable elements are lost in economic matters. Numerous alternative strategies for the treatment of jarosite and goethite and the extraction of the contained elements were proposed in literature. However, until today there are no known processes which are applied solely on iron precipitation residues on an industrial scale. A novel process concept was developed to recover multiple valuable elements from jarosite and goethite waste fractions simultaneously. The residues are mixed with chlorine additives, whereby the valuables are selectively vaporized as volatile compounds, mainly chlorides. As the extraction is taking place without carbon as a reduction agent, the process concept offers a sustainable way for the simultaneous recovery of zinc, indium and silver. Furthermore, re-sidual materials containing sufficient quantities of chlorine in suitable compounds make combined reprocessing feasible.

AB - In course of the hydrometallurgical production of zinc, millions of tons of iron precipitation residues are annually generated and disposed. Those residues, mainly jarosite and goethite, can bear signifi-cant concentrations of critical metals, such as indium and silver amongst zinc, lead, copper and other minor metals. The only generally applied method for jarosite is the Jarofix-process which aims to generate a stable material with sufficient low elution properties for the subsequent disposal, whereby the valuable elements are lost in economic matters. Numerous alternative strategies for the treatment of jarosite and goethite and the extraction of the contained elements were proposed in literature. However, until today there are no known processes which are applied solely on iron precipitation residues on an industrial scale. A novel process concept was developed to recover multiple valuable elements from jarosite and goethite waste fractions simultaneously. The residues are mixed with chlorine additives, whereby the valuables are selectively vaporized as volatile compounds, mainly chlorides. As the extraction is taking place without carbon as a reduction agent, the process concept offers a sustainable way for the simultaneous recovery of zinc, indium and silver. Furthermore, re-sidual materials containing sufficient quantities of chlorine in suitable compounds make combined reprocessing feasible.

M3 - Beitrag in Konferenzband

BT - Proceedings of EMC 2021

T2 - European metallurgical conference 2021 (online)

Y2 - 27 June 2021 through 30 June 2021

ER -