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.

The present invention provides an apparatus for preparing a metal based on solar energy thermal reduction. The apparatus includes a solar energy collection and photothermal conversion system and a thermal reduction system. The solar energy collection and photothermal conversion system includes: a solar energy collection device (1), a solar energy concentration device (2), and a solar energy transfer device (3) or a photothermal conversion and transfer device. The thermal reduction system includes: a metal reduction chamber (15), an electric field and/or magnetic field generation device (15-3), and a separation and cooling device (15-4). The solar energy collection and photothermal conversion system transfers sunlight or heat to the metal reduction chamber to decompose a metal oxide, and a product resulted from the decomposition is dissociated under the effect of an electric field/magnetic field, and a liquid metal is obtained upon cooling. The apparatus further includes a waste heat recovery and recycle system. According to the present invention, the metal oxide is heated and decomposed by directly using the solar energy, which improves energy utilization rate, greatly prevents environmental pollution and energy waste, and has a great application prospect.

A method of preparing scandium metal includes mixing aluminum powder and scandium fluoride powder to form a mixture, heating the mixture in a vacuum environment to react the aluminum powder with the scandium fluoride powder for forming aluminum fluoride gas and scandium metal, and removing the aluminum fluoride gas by evacuation to obtain the scandium metal.

A method of preparing scandium metal includes mixing aluminum powder and scandium fluoride powder to form a mixture, heating the mixture in a vacuum environment to react the aluminum powder with the scandium fluoride powder for forming aluminum fluoride gas and scandium metal, and removing the aluminum fluoride gas by evacuation to obtain the scandium metal.

A single-heating stage method for reclaiming or recovering metals like nickel and vanadium from a petroleum waste byproduct has three steps: melting the petroleum waste byproduct in a reducing atmosphere, generating agglomerated metal in the melted byproduct, and lifting the agglomerated metal to an exposed surface of the melted byproduct. The metal precipitates out of the molten byproduct, agglomerates into a separate portion, and rises to an exposed surface of the melted petroleum waste byproduct even though the metal may have greater density than the molten petroleum waste byproduct. The original petroleum waste byproduct stratifies into a byproduct remnant and the agglomerated metal disk. The agglomerated metal disk is separable from the byproduct remnant and may be additionally separated into constituent metals in those embodiments with multiple metals in the disk.

A single-heating stage method for reclaiming or recovering metals like nickel and vanadium from a petroleum waste byproduct has three steps: melting the petroleum waste byproduct in a reducing atmosphere, generating agglomerated metal in the melted byproduct, and lifting the agglomerated metal to an exposed surface of the melted byproduct. The metal precipitates out of the molten byproduct, agglomerates into a separate portion, and rises to an exposed surface of the melted petroleum waste byproduct even though the metal may have greater density than the molten petroleum waste byproduct. The original petroleum waste byproduct stratifies into a byproduct remnant and the agglomerated metal disk. The agglomerated metal disk is separable from the byproduct remnant and may be additionally separated into constituent metals in those embodiments with multiple metals in the disk.

Provided is a method for producing valuable metal from raw materials including, for example, waste lithium ion batteries by a pyrometallurgical method, said method making it possible to efficiently separate manganese included in the raw materials from metal into slag without lowering the valuable metal recovery rate. The present invention is a method for producing valuable metal from raw materials comprising: a reduction melting step for subjecting the raw materials to a reduction melting process so as to obtain a reduction product containing slag and molten metal that contains valuable metal; a slag separation step for recovering the molten metal from the reduction product; and an oxidation purification step for adding silicon dioxide (SiO.sub.2) as flux to the recovered molten metal and performing an oxidation melting process. In the oxidation purification step, SiO.sub.2 is added as the flux such that the SiO.sub.2/MnO weight ratio is 0.4-1.0 in the slag.

Provided is a method for producing valuable metal from raw materials including, for example, waste lithium ion batteries by a pyrometallurgical method, said method making it possible to efficiently separate manganese included in the raw materials from metal into slag without lowering the valuable metal recovery rate. The present invention is a method for producing valuable metal from raw materials comprising: a reduction melting step for subjecting the raw materials to a reduction melting process so as to obtain a reduction product containing slag and molten metal that contains valuable metal; a slag separation step for recovering the molten metal from the reduction product; and an oxidation purification step for adding silicon dioxide (SiO.sub.2) as flux to the recovered molten metal and performing an oxidation melting process. In the oxidation purification step, SiO.sub.2 is added as the flux such that the SiO.sub.2/MnO weight ratio is 0.4-1.0 in the slag.

The present disclosure relates to a low temperature, semi-continuous process for producing high purity rare earth metals and alloys in molten salts. Rare earth metals and alloys are reduced from the corresponding rare earth halide in molten salts in a semi-continuous process. An air stable pellet or ingot can be fed into molten salts and reduced through metallothermic reduction or electrolysis. The formation of an air stable feedstock minimizes handling concerns of the hygroscopic rare earth salts, allowing the reduction process to be run in a semi-continuous process. The process can optionally include the addition of alloying elements such as magnesium, iron and zinc reduce the required processing temperature.

The present disclosure relates to a low temperature, semi-continuous process for producing high purity rare earth metals and alloys in molten salts. Rare earth metals and alloys are reduced from the corresponding rare earth halide in molten salts in a semi-continuous process. An air stable pellet or ingot can be fed into molten salts and reduced through metallothermic reduction or electrolysis. The formation of an air stable feedstock minimizes handling concerns of the hygroscopic rare earth salts, allowing the reduction process to be run in a semi-continuous process. The process can optionally include the addition of alloying elements such as magnesium, iron and zinc reduce the required processing temperature.