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AssigneeUmicore AG & Co. KG
InventorsMaurits Van Camp, Jonathan Aerts, Benedict Janssens, Sven Santen
Estimating the term…
The invention relates to a process for the separation and recovery of non-ferrous metals from zinc-bearing residues, in particular from residues produced by the zinc manufacturing industry. The process comprises the steps of:—subjecting the residue to a flash or agitated bath fuming step, thereby producing an Fe bearing slag and Zn- and Pb-bearing fumes; and—extracting the Zn- and Pb-bearing fumes and valorizing Zn and Pb; characterized in that CaO, SiO2 and MgO are added as a flux before or during the fuming step so as to obtain a final slag composition with: formula (I) all concentrations being expressed in wt %. The invention also relates to a single-chamber reactor for Zn-fuming equipped with one or more submerged plasma torches as heat and gas sources. [ Fe ] [ SiO 2 ] + [ CaO ] [ SiO 2 ] + [ Mg O ] 3 > 3.5 ; 0.1 < [ CaO ] [ SiO 2 ] < 1.3 ; and 6 < [ SiO 2 ] < 22 ( I )
A single-chamber smelting and fuming reactor for treating Zn-bearing residues, said reactor being designed to contain a molten slag phase up to a determined level, said reactor comprising a plasma fired tuyere attached to a plasma torch as heat and gas source, said tuyere being arranged such that the torch and a connection point between the tuyere and the torch is under said level whereby the plasma is generated under said level.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.