Historical Lead Smelting Slag Harmlessness and Valuable Metals Recovery: A Co-Treatment of Lead Slag and Zinc-Bearing Material in Rotary Kiln

Xuekui Niu, Minting Li (), Hongbin Wang (), Liping Ma, Shuting Wang, Tao Zhou and Wei Wang
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Xuekui Niu: Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650093, China
Minting Li: State key Laboratory of Complex Nonferrous Metal Resources Clean Utilization, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650093, China
Hongbin Wang: Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650093, China
Liping Ma: Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650093, China
Shuting Wang: Yunnan Research Academy of Eco-Environmental Sciences, Kunming 650091, China
Tao Zhou: Yunnan Research Academy of Eco-Environmental Sciences, Kunming 650091, China
Wei Wang: Yunnan Research Academy of Eco-Environmental Sciences, Kunming 650091, China

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 20, 1-16

Abstract: The harmless treatment of historical lead smelting slag (LSS) is of significance to ecological and environmental protection, but it is still challenging in terms of the economic feasibility of alone processing due to the low content of valuable metals. Here, we performed an industrialized test with a co-treatment of LSS and zinc oxide ore in a rotary kiln to evaluate the economic feasibility and solidification effect of harmful elements. The results revealed that more than 70% of Zn and Pb were recovered from LSS in the form of dust, while the nonvolatile part of Pb, Zn, and Cd were solidified in gangue as complex silicate phases. The nonvolatile part of As came into being Fe-As intermetallic compound which was encapsulated by gangue particles or was solidified in silicate phases. The entirely enclosed structure of water-quenched slag plays an important role in the stability of slag. The TCLP and SNAL leaching tests demonstrated the high stability of water-quenched slag. A zinc oxide ore addition of 20% was recommended for energy consumption and processing capacity. Our findings highlight that the valuable metals not only can be effectively recovered but also harmful elements are solidified in gangue, providing an economical and feasible technical route for the treatment of historical LSS.

Keywords: lead smelting slag; co-treatment; valuable metals recovery; solidification characterization; stability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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