A concentrate burner provided over a reaction shaft of a copper smelting furnace, is characterized by comprising: a raw material supply portion that supplies a starting material into the reaction shaft, the starting material including copper concentrate; and an additive supply portion that is provided separately from the raw material supply portion and supplies solid additive to the starting material.

The present disclosure relates to a method for the recovery of metals and metal alloys from waste Lithium-ion batteries. The method of the present disclosure uses a smelting process that is energy-efficient, cost-effective and requires comparatively reduced time. Further, the method of the present disclosure has a high metal extraction efficiency. Furthermore, the heat treatment of the residual particulate matter results in the formation of binary CoNi alloy and prevents the formation of CoNiMn ternary alloy during smelting.

The present disclosure relates to a method for the recovery of metals and metal alloys from waste Lithium-ion batteries. The method of the present disclosure uses a smelting process that is energy-efficient, cost-effective and requires comparatively reduced time. Further, the method of the present disclosure has a high metal extraction efficiency. Furthermore, the heat treatment of the residual particulate matter results in the formation of binary CoNi alloy and prevents the formation of CoNiMn ternary alloy during smelting.

A disclosed process produces at least one concentrated copper product together with at least one crude solder product, starting from a black copper composition with at least 50% of copper together with at least 1.0% wt of tin and at least 1.0% wt of lead The process includes the step of partially oxidizing the black copper thereby forming a first copper refining slag, followed by partially reducing the first copper refining slag to form a first lead-tin based metal composition and a first spent slag. The total feed to the reducing step includes an amount of copper that is at least 1.5 times as high as the sum of the amounts of Sn plus Pb present, and the first spent slag includes at most 20% wt total of copper, tin and lead together.

A disclosed process produces at least one concentrated copper product together with at least one crude solder product, starting from a black copper composition with at least 50% of copper together with at least 1.0% wt of tin and at least 1.0% wt of lead The process includes the step of partially oxidizing the black copper thereby forming a first copper refining slag, followed by partially reducing the first copper refining slag to form a first lead-tin based metal composition and a first spent slag. The total feed to the reducing step includes an amount of copper that is at least 1.5 times as high as the sum of the amounts of Sn plus Pb present, and the first spent slag includes at most 20% wt total of copper, tin and lead together.

The treating method for a positive electrode for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery is a treating method for a positive electrode for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery which comprises a positive electrode having a foil containing Al and an active material which is a metal composite oxide, the method comprising: conducting a heating treatment for heating the positive electrode (heating step); melting the positive electrode using heat of reaction of the foil and the active material to obtain a molten material (melting step); and separating the molten material into a metal material containing a metal constituting the metal composite oxide and a slag (separating step). By subjecting the positive electrode to heating treatment, a reduction reaction of the positive electrode can be promoted at a low cost.

The treating method for a positive electrode for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery is a treating method for a positive electrode for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery which comprises a positive electrode having a foil containing Al and an active material which is a metal composite oxide, the method comprising: conducting a heating treatment for heating the positive electrode (heating step); melting the positive electrode using heat of reaction of the foil and the active material to obtain a molten material (melting step); and separating the molten material into a metal material containing a metal constituting the metal composite oxide and a slag (separating step). By subjecting the positive electrode to heating treatment, a reduction reaction of the positive electrode can be promoted at a low cost.

An alloy product is produced by an aluminothermic reduction process and an alloying process with one or more other metals or master alloy, where the reduction process and the alloying process are performed in a single stage. The final alloy product may have a scandium concentration that is greater than 0% and less than about 2%. According to another aspect of the present disclosure, a first melt is produced at a first melt temperature, a melting and alloying step is performed at a second melt temperature, less than the first melt temperature, and the temperature of the first melt is not substantially less than the second melt temperature before the melting and alloying step.

A method capable of inexpensively recovering valuable metals is provided. The method for recovering a valuable metal includes: a preparation step of preparing a charge containing at least lithium (Li) and a valuable metal; an oxidation and reductive melting step of subjecting the charge to an oxidation treatment and a reductive melting treatment to produce a reduced product containing a molten alloy and a slag, the molten alloy containing the valuable metal; and a slag separation step of separating the slag from the reduced product to recover the molten alloy, in which the mole ratio of lithium (Li) to aluminum (Al) (Li/Al ratio) in the slag is 0.15 or more and less than 0.40, and the mole ratio of calcium (Ca) to aluminum (Al) (Ca/Al) in the slag is 0.15 or more.

A process for producing a solder product and a copper product from a first lead-tin based metal composition having at least 40% wt of copper and at least 5.0% wt together of tin and lead. The process includes the steps of partially oxidizing a first liquid bath having the first lead-tin based metal composition, thereby forming a first dilute copper metal composition and a first solder refining slag, followed by separating the slag from the metal composition, and partially oxidizing a second liquid bath having the first dilute copper metal composition, thereby forming a first high-copper metal composition and a third solder refining slag, followed by separating the third solder refining slag from the first high-copper metal composition,
whereby the solder product is derived from the first solder refining slag.