| [KIVCET] Turning the Extractive-Waste Problems Into a Resource-Recovery Opportunity Turning the Extractive-Waste Problems Into a Resource-Recovery Opportunity Teodor Velea1; Alexandra-georgiana Vatui2; Ionut Macarescu2; Ioana Andreea Chirea2; Mika Paajanen3; Lieven Machiels4; Carlos Frias Gomez5; Vasile Predica6; Manuel Sevilla7; 1NATIONAL RESEARCH- DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE FOR NONFERROUS AND RARE METALS- IMNR BUCHAREST, ROMANIA, Pantelimon, Romania; 2NATIONAL RESEARCH- DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE FOR NONFERROUS AND RARE METALS- IMNR BUCHAREST, ROMANIA, ILFOV, Romania; 3VTT TECHNICAL RESEARCH CENTRE OF FINLAND LTD, Tampere, Finland; 4, Heverlee, Belgium; 5COBRE LAS CRUCES, S.A., Sevilla, Spain; 6NATIONAL RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE FOR NON-FERROUS AND RARE METALS, Ilfov, Romania; 7COBRE LAS CRUCES (CLC), Seville, Spain; PAPER: 243/Recycling/Regular (Oral) SCHEDULED: 17:50/Sat. 26 Oct. 2019/Ambrosia A (77/RF) ABSTRACT: Apart from metals, the mining and metallurgical processing of non-ferrous metals such as Cu, Pb, Zn, Au, Ag produces large volumes of waste [3]. A particular challenge is generated by waste containing residual sulphides, like pyrite, as sulphides can, upon oxidation, cause so-called acid mine drainage. This paper presents the results of experiments for advanced removal of sulphur in order to obtain near zero-waste and valuable metals products as well as other by-products [5]. The main process applied is leaching under pressure in an alkaline media (K<sub>2</sub>CO<sub>3</sub>, Na<sub>2</sub>CO<sub>3</sub>, KOH, NaOH) using air or oxygen at low to moderate temperatures and pressure (120-155<sup>o</sup>C and 4-8 atm.) [1-2][4]. Results show that more than 96-99% of sulphur can be removed by leaching of pyrite in one stage while from an alkaline solution (coming from pressure leaching), pure crystals of K<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub> / Na<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub> were obtained as valuable by-products. This paper is part of the NEMO project which has received funding from the European Union, EU Horizon 2020 Programme under Grant Agreement No. 776846 - https://h2020-nemo.eu/. References: [1] T. Velea, V. Predica, L. Gherghe, The Sixth International Copper-Cobre Conference, Toronto 2007, Symposium on Copper Hydrometallurgy, vol. 4, pg. 221-230.<br />[2] T. Velea, V. Predica, L Gherghe, International Conference Copper Metallurgy, Krakow, Poland 2011.<br />[3] INTMET Project no. 689515/2015-2019 financed by EU in Horizon 2020 programme.<br />[4] T. Velea, V. Predica, D. Taloi, S. Onisei Proceeding of the XV Balkan Minerals Proceeding Congress, Sozopol, Bulgaria, p 12-26, 2013.<br />[5] NEMO Project Horizon 2020- No. 776846, 2018-2022, funding from EU |
