A Direct Reduction Zinc Process

Editor(s)

Todd, Lamar S.

Abstract

The direct production of metal from a sphalerite concentrate is an attractive route for primary zinc. A series of operations and conditions have been selected to efficiently cause the following overall exothermic reaction. The process uses a continuous circulation of molten copper for material and energy transfer between the unit operations. Sulfide concentrate is reduced with an excess of superheated copper to make a copper alloy and white metal. The alloy is stripped of volatile metals under vacuum and some metals can be separately condensed. The residual copper and the white metal are fed into a copper converter to be blown with oxygen for desulfurizing and the superheated copper is recycled. The paper will include a detailed material flow sheet for the process, discussion of the operating conditions of the individual units, behavior of minor elements, and zinc quality.

Meeting Name

EPD Congress 1999: Sessions and Symposia sponsored by the Extraction and Processing Division of The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society, held at the 1999 TMS Annual Meeting (1999: Feb. 28-Mar. 4, San Diego, CA)

Department(s)

Materials Science and Engineering

International Standard Book Number (ISBN)

978-0873394222

Document Type

Article - Conference proceedings

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 1999 The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) , All rights reserved.

Publication Date

04 Feb 1999

This document is currently not available here.

Share

 
COinS