Stepwise extraction of zinc, indium and lead from secondary zinc oxide dusts experimental study

Secondary zinc oxide dust is rich in high-grade metals such as Zn, In, Pb, and Ga, and in the face of the depletion of ore resources at home and abroad, it is of great significance to seek an efficient process to realize the full resource recovery of valuable metals in secondary zinc oxide dust. In this study, on the basis of the thermodynamic analysis of the wet treatment process, three wet treatment methods, namely "low acid leaching", "high acid leaching" and "chlorination leaching", were used to explore the suitable parameters for stepwise extraction of Zn, In and Pb metals. The results showed that the three wet treatment methods could effectively extract the corresponding main elements, and the optimal leaching rates of Zn, In and Pb were 73, 90 and 94%, respectively. Thermodynamic analysis shows that under ideal conditions, the "cascade separation" of some or all metals can be theoretically achieved by using a suitable leaching solvent for zinc oxide dust. The concentration of sulfuric acid, the ratio of liquid solid volume to mass and temperature had great effects on the leaching rate of Zn and In, and the leaching rate of Zn and In also increased with the increase of the values of the three experimental parameters, which was positively correlated. The leaching rate of Pb will increase with the increase of sulfuric acid concentration, but when the pH of the solution system is < 2, Pb will form PbSO₄ precipitate, which inhibits the leaching ability of Pb. In the chlorinated leaching system with "ammonium chloride + hydrochloric acid" as the leaching solvent, the excess Cl^- and Pb²⁺ fully coordinated to promote the efficient leaching of Pb metal, and the initial pH value of the solution had a great influence on the Leaching Rate of Pb. The multi-stage combined wet treatment process is an effective solution to realize the full quantitative recovery of valuable elements in Secondary zinc oxide dust, In this paper, the suitable process conditions for stepwise extraction of Zn, In and Pb metals were obtained through wet treatment experiments, and the cascade separation of metals in zinc oxide dust was preliminarily realized, which provided an important idea for the efficient utilization of metallurgical dust and sludge solid wastes, and at the same time provided theoretical support for the industrial practice of recycling valuable elements in metallurgical dust.