Proof of concept for a new process to recover metals from furnace slag & dross with a 90% energy saving

炉渣是金属冶炼的副产品，在精炼金属和制造合金的过程中，每年产生数十万吨炉渣。矿渣通常以芦荟集合体的形式存在，块状物的大小不一。炉渣中含有金属中的杂质，在冶炼过程中会漂浮到炉顶。此外，炉渣在表面形成一层非金属和金属氧化物的保护壳，保护下面的液态金属不被氧化。当熔炼完成后，炉渣被撇除并堆积在炉渣堆中直至老化。炉渣实际上有许多用途，很少被浪费，但它被用于低价值的应用，如混凝土和骨料路面材料中的压舱物。然而，炉渣保留了相当数量的金属，这些金属有时可以通过重熔矿渣来回收，但这是非常昂贵的，而且能量负担非常高。我们的想法是使用一种新技术来选择性地将炉渣中的非金属成分从金属颗粒中分解出来。这项新技术最初是为回收废玻璃而开发的，相对较新，尚未应用于其他材料。我们进行了一些简单的试验，结果表明，金属与非金属颗粒存在一定程度的优先还原和分离。进一步的研究将使我们能够更密切地探索新工艺，我们相信，通过改进该技术可以非常有效地精炼各种不同的NFM炉渣材料，并应显著提高从所有炉渣中回收金属的能力。金属回收路线将因材料而异，但使用我们的概念工艺路线几乎可以实现从炉渣中回收任何金属。与现有工艺相比，建议工艺的好处是：·能源成本节省90%·材料本地周转迅速·碳足迹减少90%·保持对回收金属的控制。·使冶炼厂能够回收更多金属

Slag is a by-product of metal smelting, and several 100,000 tonnes of it are produced everyyear in the process of refining metals and making alloys. Slag usually takes the form of aloose aggregate with lumps of varying size. Slag contains impurities from the metals, whichfloat to the top during the smelting process. Also, slag forms a protective crust of non-metallic& metallic oxides on the surface, protecting the liquid metal underneath from oxidation.When smelting is complete, the slag is skimmed off and deposited in a slag heap to ‘age’.Slag actually has many uses, and rarely goes to waste, but it is used in low value applicationssuch as ballast in concrete and in aggregate road materials. However, slag retains significantamounts of metals, and these are sometimes recovered by re-melting the slag, but this isextremely expensive with a very high energy burden.Our idea is to use a novel technology to selectively break down the non-metallic componentsof slag from the metallic particles. This novel technology was originally developed to recyclewaste glass and is relatively new, and has not been applied commercially to other materials.We have carried out some simple tests and the results indicate there is some degree ofpreferential reduction and separation of metal from non-metal particles.Further research will allow us to explore the novel process more closely, and we believe thatwith modifications the technology could be refined to treat a variety of different NFM slagmaterials very effectively and should significantly improve metal recovery from all slag. Themetal recovery route will vary from material to material but almost any metal recovery fromslag could be achieved using our concept process route.The benefits of the proposed process vs existing process are:• 90% saving in energy cost• Rapid local turnaround of material• 90% cut in the carbon footprint• Retain control of metal recovered.• Enable smelters to recover more metal