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

矿渣是金属冶炼的副产品，每年在精炼金属和制造合金的过程中产生几十万吨矿渣。炉渣通常呈松散的集合体，团块大小不一。炉渣中含有金属中的杂质，在熔炼过程中会浮到顶部。此外，炉渣在表面形成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。当冶炼完成时，炉渣被撇去并沉积在炉渣堆中以“老化”。炉渣实际上有很多用途，很少被浪费，但它被用于低价值的应用，如混凝土中的道渣和骨料道路材料。然而，炉渣中保留了大量的金属，这些金属有时可以通过重新熔化炉渣来回收，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从金属颗粒中分解炉渣中的非金属成分。这项新技术最初是为了处理废玻璃而开发的，相对较新，尚未在商业上应用于其他材料。我们进行了一些简单的试验，结果表明，有一定程度的优先还原和金属与非金属颗粒的分离。进一步的研究将使我们能够更深入地探索这一新工艺。我们相信，通过改进，该技术可以得到改进，以非常有效地处理各种不同的NFM炉渣材料，并应显着提高所有炉渣中的金属回收率。金属回收路线因材料而异，但使用我们的概念工艺路线可以实现几乎任何金属的回收。与现有工艺相比，建议工艺的优点是：·节省90%的能源成本·材料的快速本地周转·碳足迹减少90%·保留回收金属的控制。使冶炼厂能够回收更多的金属

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