Distribution of Pb, Zn, Fe, As, Sn, Sb, Bi, and Ni Between Oxide Liquid and Metal in the ‘CuO0.5’-CaO-AlO1.5 System in Equilibrium with Cu Metal at 1400 °C

Abstract The increasing complexity of ore resources and recycled materials in the feed of pyrometallurgical processes present a technical challenge to the metallurgical engineers working on maximizing the recovery of the valuable elements and minimizing the environmental impact of the processes. To address this challenge, the availability of computational tools that can predict the mass and energy balance in complex systems is required. Then, the accurate description of phase equilibria in the complex multicomponent systems describing the chemistry of the pyrometallurgical processes becomes critical for the correct implementation of the indicated tools and facing the outlined industrial challenges. In the present study, the distribution of selected elements (Pb, Zn, Fe, As, Sn, Sb, Bi, and Ni) between oxide liquid and metal in the ‘CuO 0.5 ’–CaO–AlO 1.5 system in equilibrium with Cu metal at 1400 °C (liquidus of CaAl 2 O 4 ) was experimentally studied using the equilibration and quenching technique followed by the electron probe X-ray microanalysis of the resulted samples. The study covered a wide range of effective p(O 2 ) over the system from 10 −11 to 10 −3.5 (corresponding to formation of immiscible CuO 0.5 -rich slag). To avoid loss of volatile elements (Pb, Zn, As, Sn, Sb, and Bi), a correlation between ‘CuO 0.5 ’ in oxide liquid and p(O 2 ) in open system was obtained first, followed by studying the volatile elements distribution in closed conditions (Al 2 O 3 crucible sealed in SiO 2 ampoule), where ‘CuO 0.5 ’ concentration was used as a marker to evaluate the effective p(O 2 ) over the system. The experimental results were then used for the optimization of the thermodynamic model parameters of the system as part of the integrated experimental and self-consisting thermodynamic modeling research program of phase equilibria in the Cu–Pb–Zn–Fe–Ca–Si–Al–Mg–O–S–(As, Sn, Sb, Bi, Ag, Au, Ni, Cr, Co, and Na) gas/oxide liquid/matte/speiss/metal/solids system. Graphical Abstract