PbZn 2020: The 9th International Symposium on Lead and Zinc Processing: By-product Recovery II
Sponsored by: The Mining and Materails Processing Institute of Japan, Nonferrous Metals Society of China, GDMB: The Society for Mining, Metallurgy Resourcce and Environmental Technology, Metallurgy & Materials Society of the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy & Petroleum, TMS Extraction and Processing Division, TMS: Hydrometallurgy and Electrometallurgy Committee, TMS: Process Technology and Modeling Committee, TMS: Pyrometallurgy Committee, TMS: Recycling and Environmental Technologies Committee
Program Organizers: Andreas Siegmund, LanMetCon LLC; Shafiq Alam, University of Saskatchewan; Joseph Grogan, Gopher Resource; Ulrich Kerney, Recylex; Cheng Liu, China Enfi Engineering Corporation; Etsuro Shibata, Tohoku University
Wednesday 11:00 AM
February 26, 2020
Room: 15A
Location: San Diego Convention Ctr
Session Chair: Joshua Montenegro, Gopher Resource
11:00 AM
The Importance of Lead in the Supply Chain of Antimony: Hilde Goovaerts1; 1Campine
The European Union did classify antimony as a critical raw material because of the high supply risk. Recovery of antimony is essential because the known natural resources are rapidly becoming depleted. What are the applications, the antimony REACH status, its resources and potentials for recycling? The role of lead cannot be underestimated in this supply chain.
11:20 AM
Studies on the Formation of Intermetallic Compound Layers in Co(W)-Zn Diffusion Couples: Tamara Ebner1; Nadine Körbler1; Stefan Luidold1; Christoph Czettl2; Christian Storf2; 1CDL-TM Montanuniversitaet Leoben; 2CERATIZIT Austria GmbH
Cemented carbides represent a composite material which consists of a hard phase and a binder metal. At the end of their product lifecycle these commodities can be recycled by the zinc process. In the first step of this method the scrap reacts with molten zinc at elevated temperatures, which forms intermetallic phases with the binder (Co), resulting in a disintegration of the material. By now the exact mechanism of this technique is not fully understood. Therefore, this research focuses on the transactions between the binder and the liquid zinc by analysing the formation of intermetallic phases via simultaneously varying decisive process parameters and the composition of the binder metal. Hence, this study provides information regarding the growth of intermetallic Co-Zn phases and emphasises the effect of dissolved tungsten in the binder on the formation of these compounds.
11:40 AM
The UrbanGold Technology for Enhancing Metals Recovery and Efficiency in WEEE Recycling: Timm Lux1; R. Degel1; S. Konetschnik2; 1SMS group GmbH; 2UrbanGold GmbH
With increasing electrification and technological development, more and more metals are included into daily products that must be recycled when it reaches its EoL to close the loop of a circular economy. However, with increased product complexity, also the recycling and separation process of each individual metal/element dramatically increases. In order to recycle as many metals as possible, adapted processes and new metallurgical solutions must be developed. UrbanGold and its partners from Mettop and SMS group have developed a novel technology for the recovery of valuables from all non-ferrous metals’ fractions of WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment), with a special focus on low qualities, which are commonly landfilled or incinerated. The technology is marketed under the brand name “UrbanGold Flex” to illustrate the high flexibility in respect of plant design and raw material portfolio, allowing also the processing of low-grade material and materials with high caloric values. The process of the technology’s centrepiece, a modified and enhanced bath smelting furnace called “HENRI”, was investigated in numerous pyrometallurgical trials as basis for a scale-up towards a capacity of up to 100,000 tons of WEEE-concentrates per year. All relevant facility components have been evaluated in respect of references, fall-back options, as well as exit strategies (alternatives) to minimize risks when establishing a novel technology. A spin-off within the development is the “UrbanGold Compact” technology which can be seen as optimization of state-of-the-art smelters by using an optimized TBRC as primary processing unit. As an UrbanGold Compact plant will be the first industrial scale reference of UrbanGold’s technologies, it is also explained in the publication. A further option is the Mini Henri which allows to recycle 3000 tpa of WEEE concentrate at minimum CAPEX expenses. As precious metals recovery is of major (economical) importance when recycling WEEE, major attention has been given to minimize the losses of these valuables. These measures, as well as a sophisticated way of utilizing waste heat as far as possible, result in interesting business cases with gross profits of up to 20% or even more.