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

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

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.

Details

Original languageGerman
Title of host publicationProceedings of EMC 2021
Publication statusPublished - 2021
EventEuropean metallurgical conference 2021 (online) - Salzburg, Austria
Duration: 27 Jun 202130 Jun 2021

Conference

ConferenceEuropean metallurgical conference 2021 (online)
Country/TerritoryAustria
CitySalzburg
Period27/06/2130/06/21