A Review on Pyrometallurgical Extraction of Antimony from Primary Resources: Current Practices and Evolving Processes

Abstract

Antimony is classified as a critical/strategic metal. Its primary production is predominated by China via pyrometallurgical routes such as volatilization roasting—reduction smelting or direct reduction smelting. The performance of most of the pyro-processes is very sensitive to concentrate type and grade. Therefore, technology selection for a greenfield plant is a significant and delicate task to maximize the recovery rate of antimony and subsequently precious metals (PMs), mainly gold, from the concentrates. The current paper reviews the conventional pyrometallurgical processes and technologies that have been practiced for the treatment of antimony concentrates. The blast furnace is the most commonly used technology, mainly because of its adaptability to different feeds and grades and a high recovery rate. In addition, several other more environmentally friendly pyrometallurgical routes, that were recently developed, are reviewed but these are still at laboratory- or pilot-scales. For example, decarbonization of antimony production through the replacement of carbonaceous reductants with hydrogen seems to be feasible, although the process is still at its infancy, and further research and development are necessary for its commercialization. At the end, available refining methods for removal of the most important impurities including arsenic, sulfur, lead, iron, and copper from crude antimony are discussed.

Fundamental experimental and thermodynamic modelling study in support of the lead battery recycling slag

“…No literature data were available for the Fe-Sb-Si-O system, which is not only important for lead acid battery recycling, but also for pyrometallurgical production of antimony [29]. The summary of produced experimental results and example of the microstructure of are shown in Figure 6.…”

A Review on the Zone Refining Process Technology toward Ultra‐Purification of Gallium for GaAs/GaN‐based Optoelectronic Device Applications

“…The technique can be used to obtain material purity of ≈3N or 99.9%. [119][120][121] (b) Hydrometallurgical purification: This technique is also part of extractive metallurgy. As the name implies, the here aqueous medium is used for the recovery of metals from ores, concentrates, or from recycled or residual materials.…”

“…In all these processes, the percentage of material purity that can be achievable is comparatively lower falling within the 3N to 4N level in general but can also reach up to 5N in certain cases. [119][120][121][122][123][124][125]…”

An Overview of the Behavior of Concentrates with Arsenic, Antimony, and Bismuth under Roasting Conditions

“…The latest work on the processing of arsenic species was reported by Castro et al [12], who analyzed the behavior of arsenic sulfides at high temperatures. Regarding the processing of antimony, Moosavi et al [13] carried out a review on its development through history. The authors focused on the pyrometallurgical route as well as the technologies used to obtain antimony-based products.…”