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 method for recycling used cells such as saline cells, alkaline cells, button cells and used rechargeable batteries, includes the step of introducing the cells and/or rechargeable batteries as feedstock into a metal melting furnace, at the charging door thereof. The cells and/or rechargeable batteries are subjected to a compression operation in order to remove the electrolytes contained in the cells and/or rechargeable batteries, prior to introducing the cells and/or rechargeable batteries into the metal melting furnace.

The method can be used for recycling used cells and rechargeable batteries.

To provide a method with which it is possible to ascertain a gas concentration in a furnace rapidly, and to charge an amount of fuel and/or oxygen corresponding to the state within the furnace, and with which it is possible to reduce the device maintenance load. In order to solve the abovementioned problem, this method for analyzing components contained in flue exhaust gas of a furnace includes: a sampling step of collecting a portion of the flue exhaust gas from a flue; a dust removal step of using a centrifugal dust collecting device to separate out dust in the flue exhaust gas collected in the sampling step, to yield an analysis gas; a measuring step of measuring components in the analysis gas to obtain the concentration of carbon monoxide in the analysis gas; and an analysis gas discharging step of causing the analysis gas to be sucked by an ejector.

The present invention provides a method which is capable of more strictly controlling the oxygen partial pressure required during the melting of a starting material, thereby being capable of recovering a valuable metal more efficiently. A method for recovering valuable metals (Cu, Ni, Co), said method comprising the following steps: a step for preparing, as a starting material, a charge that contains at least phosphorus (P), manganese (Mn) and valuable metals; a step for heating and melting the starting material into a melt, and subsequently forming the melt into a molten material that contains an alloy and slag; and a step for recovering the alloy that contains valuable metals by separating the slag from the molten material. With respect to this method for recovering valuable metals, the oxygen partial pressure in the melt is directly measured with use of an oxygen analyzer when the starting material is heated and melted.

An apparatus and an arrangement for the (pyro)metallurgical treatment of electrical and/or electronic scrap or components, which are in particular configured in such a way that substantially uncontaminated electrical and/or electronic scrap or components thereof can be processed without impurities. The apparatus or the arrangement includes a melting reactor, which has a cooler. The present invention also relates to the use of the apparatus or the arrangement for the metallurgical treatment of electrical and/or electronic scrap or components and to the obtainment of raw copper or a precursor thereof, as well as to methods for the (pyro)metallurgical treatment of electrical and/or electronic scrap or components.

An electronic waste processing apparatus has a power supply device, a vacuum cracking device, a filter device, and a separation device. The vacuum device is electrically connected to the power supply device, and has a vacuum pump, a vacuum chamber, and a high-frequency furnace body. The vacuum chamber is connected to and communicates with the vacuum pump. The high-frequency furnace body is disposed in the vacuum chamber. The filter device is electrically connected to the power supply device, and is connected to and communicates with the high-frequency furnace body of the vacuum cracking device. The separation device is electrically connected to the power supply device, is connected to and communicates with the vacuum pump and the filter device, and has a condensation cylinder, a cooling cylinder, and an oil storage tank.

A method for recovering platinum group metals, includes melting a material to be treated containing platinum group metals, under heating in a furnace, along with a copper source material containing at least one kind of metallic copper and copper oxide, a flux component, and a reducing agent. The molten metal absorbing the platinum group metals is separated from a slag oxide through difference in specific gravity. The molten metal absorbing the platinum group metals is subjected to an oxidation treatment. An oxide layer containing as a major component copper oxide and a molten metal containing as a major component metallic copper containing the platinum group metals concentrated therein are separated through difference in specific gravity. A silver content in the molten metal separated in melting under heating is controlled to 2,000 ppm or more and 8,000 ppm or less, thereby recovering platinum group metals with high efficiency.

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 good 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; in addition, the non-use of fluxing salt for the treatment means that the non-contaminated residue can be used as a cover for the electrolytic cells in the case of aluminum. In the case of zinc dross, the residue is a valuable zinc oxide by-product very low in contaminants.

Scrap vehicles, mixtures of iron and aluminum, plastics are often pressed into bales or cubes to reduce the cost of transportation and storage to a smelter. Considering the dwindling number of large smelters in the United States due to the high pollution associated with coke fired cupolas, a new invention is developed to use natural gas, diesel fuels and clean fuels and hydrocarbons from scrap plastics in the bale. The process consists of three steps. In the first step the scrap bale is heated in a chamber up to temperatures of 1000 C. to promote the vaporization of zinc from galvanized steel, the pyrolysis of any plastics or scrap tires in the bale, and the separation of aluminum and magnesium by melting. The heat for this first stage is transferred through flue gases rising from the second and third stages after passing through a recuperator. The remaining scrap once separated from zinc, aluminum, magnesium and plastics is transferred to a second stage and melted and allowed to flow into a third stage where alloying and final removal of sulfur, phosphorus and other contaminants is completed in the hearth under a reverberating flame. Flue gases rising from the first stage are passed through condensers to precipitate vaporized zinc, and to convert hydrocarbons into fuel that is burned in the third stage burner above the hearth.

Aluminum scrap having organic adhesions is processed to recover aluminum. A hearth of scrap chamber of a multi-chamber melting furnace is batchwise loaded with aluminum scrap where it is heated in low oxygen to convert the organic adhesions on the aluminum scrap into a pyrolysis gas. In a second pretreatment phase, the scrap chamber is heated to the auto-ignition temperature of the pyrolysis gas, wherein at least one air flow is provided in the scrap chamber to produce an ignitable substoichiometric pyrolysis gas/combustion air mixture which is reacted in the scrap chamber in a combustion process. The atmosphere from the scrap chamber is transferred to a post-combustion. A corresponding multi-chamber melting furnace is also provided.