The Recovery of Pb and Zn in Antimony
Smelting Slag
Pengfei Xin, Junyan Wei, Liang Xu, Weiguo Wu and Dailong Lan
Abstract This paper studies the recovery of metals Pb, Zn, and Sb in antimony
smelting slag by fuming furnace. The study focuses on volatile mechanism of Pb,
Zn, and Sb, metal distribution, metal recovery, and fuel consumption in the process
of slag fuming. It is concluded in this report that the Pb, Zn, and Sb from reduction
reaction in the molten bath during the process of fuming will be oxidized in the offgas
zone and collected by dust collection. When the antimony smelting slag contains Pb
~1.2%, Zn ~6.9%, and Sb ~1.4%, the metal recovery of Pb, Zn, and Sb after fuming
and volatile process will be 95%, 88%, and 60%, respectively. Meanwhile, the coal
consumption is ~0.3 t per ton antimony smelting slag, when the pulverized coal with
59.92% fixed carbon is utilized as reductant and fuel.
Keywords Fuming furnace · Zinc · Lead · Antimony smelting slag
Overview
Guangxi province is a major place to produce metal antimony in China. In accordance with statistics, the metal antimony produced in Guangxi in 2018 accounts for
33% of the total output in China. The antimony ore mainly occurs as jamesonite
(4PbS·FeS·3Sb 2 S 3 ). The process of sinter + blast furnace reduction—reverberatory refining—is utilized for metal antimony smelting. With regard to such process,
amounts of smelting slag are produced during blast furnace reduction. However, the
treatment of such antimony smelting slag will cost a lot. Therefore, such quantities
of smelting slag are stored. However, Zn, Pb, Sb, and other metals remain in such
antimony smelting slag due to the characteristics of jamesonite, which will cause
some negative impact on the environment due to long term storage. Therefore, it will
P. Xin (B) · L. Xu · W. Wu
China ENFI Engineering Co., Ltd., Beijing 100038, China
e-mail: xinpf@enfi.com.cn
J. Wei · D. Lan
Guangxi Raw Antimony Rich Polytron Technologies Inc, Hechi 547000, China
e-mail: gxldl3158@163.com
© The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society 2020
A. Siegmund et al. (eds.), PbZn 2020: 9th International Symposium
on Lead and Zinc Processing, The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37070-1_56
653
Smelting Slag
Pengfei Xin, Junyan Wei, Liang Xu, Weiguo Wu and Dailong Lan
Abstract This paper studies the recovery of metals Pb, Zn, and Sb in antimony
smelting slag by fuming furnace. The study focuses on volatile mechanism of Pb,
Zn, and Sb, metal distribution, metal recovery, and fuel consumption in the process
of slag fuming. It is concluded in this report that the Pb, Zn, and Sb from reduction
reaction in the molten bath during the process of fuming will be oxidized in the offgas
zone and collected by dust collection. When the antimony smelting slag contains Pb
~1.2%, Zn ~6.9%, and Sb ~1.4%, the metal recovery of Pb, Zn, and Sb after fuming
and volatile process will be 95%, 88%, and 60%, respectively. Meanwhile, the coal
consumption is ~0.3 t per ton antimony smelting slag, when the pulverized coal with
59.92% fixed carbon is utilized as reductant and fuel.
Keywords Fuming furnace · Zinc · Lead · Antimony smelting slag
Overview
Guangxi province is a major place to produce metal antimony in China. In accordance with statistics, the metal antimony produced in Guangxi in 2018 accounts for
33% of the total output in China. The antimony ore mainly occurs as jamesonite
(4PbS·FeS·3Sb 2 S 3 ). The process of sinter + blast furnace reduction—reverberatory refining—is utilized for metal antimony smelting. With regard to such process,
amounts of smelting slag are produced during blast furnace reduction. However, the
treatment of such antimony smelting slag will cost a lot. Therefore, such quantities
of smelting slag are stored. However, Zn, Pb, Sb, and other metals remain in such
antimony smelting slag due to the characteristics of jamesonite, which will cause
some negative impact on the environment due to long term storage. Therefore, it will
P. Xin (B) · L. Xu · W. Wu
China ENFI Engineering Co., Ltd., Beijing 100038, China
e-mail: xinpf@enfi.com.cn
J. Wei · D. Lan
Guangxi Raw Antimony Rich Polytron Technologies Inc, Hechi 547000, China
e-mail: gxldl3158@163.com
© The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society 2020
A. Siegmund et al. (eds.), PbZn 2020: 9th International Symposium
on Lead and Zinc Processing, The Minerals, Metals & Materials Series,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-37070-1_56
653