Provided are: an alloy powder in which nickel and cobalt can be easily dissolved in an acid and stably leached with an acid; a manufacturing method with which an alloy powder that enables stable acid leaching can be obtained at low cost; and a method for recovering a valuable metal using the manufacturing method. An alloy powder according to the present invention includes copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), and cobalt (Co) as constituents, has a 50% cumulative diameter (D50) of 30 .Math.m to 85 .Math.m in the volume particle size distribution, and has an oxygen content of 0.01 mass% to 1.00 mass%.

A powder feeder system for a foundry system having a mixing hearth includes a housing assembly, and a feeder assembly in the housing assembly having a moveable barrel feeder for feeding a pre-weighed charge of metal powder into the mixing hearth of the foundry system during operation thereof. A method for recycling metal powder includes the steps of melting a content of the mixing hearth completely; and then feeding the metal powder into the mixing hearth while the contents of the mixing hearth are still molten using the powder feeder system.

Provided is a method for separating copper from nickel and cobalt, which can efficiently and selectively separate copper from nickel and cobalt in a substance containing copper, nickel, and cobalt in a waste lithium ion battery, etc. In this method, a substance containing copper, nickel, and cobalt is sulfurated to obtain a sulfide, the obtained sulfide that contains copper, nickel, and cobalt is brought into contact with an acid solution to obtain a solid containing copper and a leachate containing nickel and cobalt. The sulfide preferably contains copper sulfide as a main component, and contains nickel metal and cobalt metal. In-addition, when bringing the sulfide into contact with the acid solution, the added amounts of the sulfide and the acid solution are preferably adjusted such that the oxidation-reduction potential of the obtained leachate is maintained at 150 mV or less where a silver/silver chloride electrode is a reference electrode.

A waste mercury recovery device including an infrared heater, used for heating mercury-containing waste; a waste mercury device, placed on the infrared heater, and used for holding the mercury-containing waste; a pure mercury recovery extractor, including a mercury vapor cooling part and a pure mercury storage part; a mercury vapor cooling part, communicated with the waste mercury device, and used for cooling mercury vapor; and a pure mercury storage part, communicated with the mercury vapor cooling part, and used for storing cooled and liquefied mercury.

A process and an apparatus are disclosed for improved recovery of metal from hot and cold dross, wherein a dross-treating furnace is provided with a filling material with capacity to store heat. This filling material is preheated to a desired temperature by injection of an oxidizing gas to burn non-recoverable metal remaining in the filling material after tapping of the recoverable metal contained in the dross and discharging of the treatment residue. When dross is treated in such furnace, the heat emanating by conduction from the filling material is sufficient to melt and separate the recoverable metal contained in the dross, without addition of an external heat source, such as fuel or gas burners, plasma torches or electric arcs and without use of any salt fluxes. Furthermore, the recovered metal being in the molten state can be fed to the molten metal holding furnace without cooling the melt.

A method for recovering a valuable substance is provided. The method includes a thermal treatment step of thermally treating a target containing a valuable substance using a continuous furnace configured to thermally treat the target while moving a target storing unit, in which the target is stored, such that the target storing unit is not contacted by a flame that is for thermal treatment, and a valuable substance recovering step of recovering the valuable substance from a thermally treated product of the target obtained in the thermal treatment step.

A system and method of controlling a metal melting process in a melting furnace, including determining at least one furnace parameter characterizing a melting furnace, adding a charge containing solid metal into the melting furnace, detecting at least one charge parameter characterizing the charge, firing a burner into the melting furnace to provide heat to melt the charge, and exhausting burner combustion products from the furnace, detecting at least one process parameter characterizing progress of melting the charge, calculating a furnace efficiency based on the at least one furnace parameter, calculating a predicted process pour readiness time based on the at least one charge parameter, the at least one process parameter, and the furnace efficiency, and controlling the metal melting process based on the predicted process pour readiness time.

A method for upgrading used or rejected electric battery cells, which include upgradable compounds, such as iron, zinc, manganese, copper, and fixed and volatile carbon, and heavy metals and dangerous compounds. The used or rejected battery cells are introduced as a load into a furnace for melting metal, such as a cupola furnace, a free arc furnace, or an induction furnace. A device for purifying gases produced by the furnace and for capturing and removing noxious elements, such as mercury, chlorides, and fluorides, and heavy molecules such as dioxins, furans, and aromatic substances, is provided in a discharge route of the hot gases, downstream from the melting furnace.

A molten metal rotor receives and retains an end of a molten metal rotor shaft. The rotor shaft has one or more projections at the end received in the rotor. The rotor has an inner cavity, a top surface with an opening leading to the inner cavity, and at least one abutment. The opening includes one or more portions for allowing each projection to pass through the opening and into the inner cavity. The rotor and/or shaft are then rotated so at least one of the outwardly-extending projections is under the top surface of the rotor and is against an abutment. A molten metal pump, rotary degasser scrap melter or other device used in molten metal may utilize a rotor/shaft combination as disclosed herein.

The invention concerns a process for the recovery of metals such as Ni and Co from a Li-containing starting material.

In particular, this process concerns the recovery of metals M from a Li-containing starting material, wherein M comprises Ni and Co, comprising the steps of:

Step 1: Providing said starting material, comprising Li-ion batteries or their derived products;
Step 2: Removing Li in an amount of more than the maximum of (1) 30% of the Li present in said starting material, and (2) a percentage of the Li present in said starting material determined to obtain a Li:M ratio of less than 0.70 in a subsequent acidic leaching step;
Step 3: Subsequent leaching using relative amounts of Li-depleted product and a mineral acid, thereby obtaining a Ni- and Co-bearing solution; and,
Step 4: Crystallization of Ni, Co, and optionally Mn.

Due to the lower reagent consumption and higher Ni and/or Co concentration during hydrometallurgical processing, the invention is an efficient and economic process for the production of crystals suitable for battery material production.