Recovery of Metals from Copper Smelting Slag Using Coke and Biochar

Abstract

With the purpose of recovering the metal values, in this study the copper slag was reduced by coke and biochar at 1250 °C in an argon gas atmosphere using the isothermal reduction/drop quenching technique. The phase compositions of metal, matte, and slag were determined using electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). The effects of reduction time and amount of reductant were investigated. The distribution of elements between metal/matte and slag was ascertained based on the elemental concentrations determined by EPMA. It was found that copper concentration in slag can be effectively decreased to approximately 0.4–0.6 wt% within 5 min by coke and biochar. Copper and nickel can also be successfully recovered into the copper alloy phase once settling has been accomplished. Graphical Abstract